Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
3559 Climbers
7056 Climbs
18288 Ascents
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Steve McClure
Steve McClure is a British sport climber and boulderer who was at the forefront of English and Welsh sport climbing from the late 1990s to until late 2010s and in more recent years has applied his considerable talents to establishing and repeating some of the hardest trad climbs in the UK.
In 1998 he established Mutation at Raven Tor, at the time he suggested 9a but it steadfastly stood the test of time with a repeat taking until 2021 to materialise and along with it an upgrade to 9a+ making it one of the first of the grade in the world. He then went on to further cement himself as Britain's leading sport climber of the time by climbing Ben Moon's Kilnsey project to produce Northern Lights.
Over the following decades Steve continued to almost single-handedly push hard sport climbing in the UK with routes like Rainshadow, Overshadow and Rainman as well as many other notable contributions to Malham Cove, Kilnsey and the peak district.
Steve is also a very capable trad climber and has repeated and established some of the UKs hardest trad climbs. For example his onsight of Nightmayer on Dinas Cromlech is one of the most impressive ascents in this style in the UK as of 2021.
The first time I came to Malham it looked like the easiest crag in the world...
References
[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/steve_mcclure_climbs_1000th_8a_-_the_magic_grade-15509
[2] Interview with Keith Sharples On The Edge Issue 103, page 42
[3] Video with Magnus Midtbø, Jan 2026 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAmM46vFn1Y
Steve McClure is a British sport climber and boulderer who was at the forefront of English and Welsh sport climbing from the late 1990s to until late 2010s and in more recent years has applied his considerable talents to establishing and repeating some of the hardest trad climbs in the UK.
In 1998 he established Mutation at Raven Tor, at the time he suggested 9a but it steadfastly stood the test of time with a repeat taking until 2021 to materialise and along with it an upgrade to 9a+ making it one of the first of the grade in the world. He then went on to further cement himself as Britain's leading sport climber of the time by climbing Ben Moon's Kilnsey project to produce Northern Lights.
Over the following decades Steve continued to almost single-handedly push hard sport climbing in the UK with routes like Rainshadow, Overshadow and Rainman as well as many other notable contributions to Malham Cove, Kilnsey and the peak district.
Steve is also a very capable trad climber and has repeated and established some of the UKs hardest trad climbs. For example his onsight of Nightmayer on Dinas Cromlech is one of the most impressive ascents in this style in the UK as of 2021.
The first time I came to Malham it looked like the easiest crag in the world...
References
[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/steve_mcclure_climbs_1000th_8a_-_the_magic_grade-15509
[2] Interview with Keith Sharples On The Edge Issue 103, page 42
[3] Video with Magnus Midtbø, Jan 2026 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAmM46vFn1Y
Pics + Vids
Featuring 8848 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
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Fancy a look around? You can browse by climber or by climbs, or you can check out some lists. For example
- All sport ascents of 9b or above
- British women who have climbed 7C or above
- British men who have climbed 8c or above
Podcasts
Featuring 3950 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Tom Randall on The Struggle Climbing Show, November 2025
- Simon Lorenzi on The Nugget, April 2024
- Tom Greenall on That's Not Real Climbing, November 2024
- Matty Hong on The Testpiece Podcast, February 2024
Library
Featuring 11021 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Dosage Vol. III (2005) Film
- Alpine Journal 1906 Vol 23 253 Correspondence (1906) Journal
- Pembroke Supplement (1998) Guidebook
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References
Another part of it is that I actually was nowhere close to sending some years before. I thought of that part, but for me, that specific move is just so hard, especially when you come from the ground.
[…] Darth Grader maybe doesn't really make that much sense. Or it's sort of a game. But I know that that crux move is, or like the whole crux is at the top of the BIG is maybe 8A+, maybe only 8A boulder problem. And I'm pretty sure if there is an 8B boulder problem instead, just in a different style, I would have done the route.
But that specific route is just so hard to have everything perfect. Because to align all the details together, which is conditions, shape, and being rested is just so hard. But when it comes, when you know everything is perfect, it's just almost impossible to go perfect. More important, I think it's the route, which, where it's extremely beneficial to take a lot of risk, not in terms of taking a groundfall. But it's sort of like a 9A plus 9B intro into that move. And I know that with a good shape and with perfect weather, I can get there every time. But if I climb with safety, I will never ever have the margin to actually do the move.