Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
3522 Climbers
6951 Climbs
18007 Ascents
Featured
James Pearson
James pearson is an all round climber from the peak district in the UK.
Growing up, James established himself with fast repeats of many hard and scary gritstone routes such as Equilibrium, at the time one of the hardest gritstone routes around, as well as putting up hard routes of his own such as The Promise at Burbage North.
As well as climbing hard trad James also repeated many hard boulder problems. Most notably in 2007 he flashed three problems in the 8A+/B range Ganymede Takeover, The Great Shark Hunt and Schule des Lebens. At the time each of these was considered 8B which would make these ascents some of the hardest flashes in the world at the time though these problems have subsequently been downgraded.
In 2008 James courted controversy when he established The Walk of Life at Dyers Lookout and gave it the unprecedented grade of E12, suggesting it was harder than any other route in the UK at the time. The route is now considered E9, and on reflection James has admitted the route was not in his style which is why it felt as hard as it did for him.
After the controversy around The Walk of Life James moved to Europe and spent a lot of time becoming a more well rounded climber. Around the same time he met his now-wife Caroline Ciavaldini. Putting his training to good use James has now repeated and established a slew of hard sport and trad routes around the world. Notable ascents include many hard onsight and flashes in Pembroke in South Wales, a repeat of Dave MacLeod's Rhapsody at Dumbarton Rock, Jacopo Larcher's Tribe and the first ascent of Le Voyage.
References
[1] Interview with Tom Randall
[2] Interview with PlanetMountain, 2008 https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/james-pearson-climbing-interview.html
James pearson is an all round climber from the peak district in the UK.
Growing up, James established himself with fast repeats of many hard and scary gritstone routes such as Equilibrium, at the time one of the hardest gritstone routes around, as well as putting up hard routes of his own such as The Promise at Burbage North.
As well as climbing hard trad James also repeated many hard boulder problems. Most notably in 2007 he flashed three problems in the 8A+/B range Ganymede Takeover, The Great Shark Hunt and Schule des Lebens. At the time each of these was considered 8B which would make these ascents some of the hardest flashes in the world at the time though these problems have subsequently been downgraded.
In 2008 James courted controversy when he established The Walk of Life at Dyers Lookout and gave it the unprecedented grade of E12, suggesting it was harder than any other route in the UK at the time. The route is now considered E9, and on reflection James has admitted the route was not in his style which is why it felt as hard as it did for him.
After the controversy around The Walk of Life James moved to Europe and spent a lot of time becoming a more well rounded climber. Around the same time he met his now-wife Caroline Ciavaldini. Putting his training to good use James has now repeated and established a slew of hard sport and trad routes around the world. Notable ascents include many hard onsight and flashes in Pembroke in South Wales, a repeat of Dave MacLeod's Rhapsody at Dumbarton Rock, Jacopo Larcher's Tribe and the first ascent of Le Voyage.
References
[1] Interview with Tom Randall
[2] Interview with PlanetMountain, 2008 https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/james-pearson-climbing-interview.html
Pics + Vids
Featuring 8685 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Will Bosi on Ultra Instinct (8C)
Will Bosi on Gepresster Hase (8B+)
Daniel Woods on Domestic Cat (8B+)
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Explore
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 3914 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Melina Costanza on The Nugget, April 2023
- Tommy Caldwell on The Nugget, October 2022
- Sam Prior on The Careless Talk Climbing Podcast, January 2026
- Tom Livingstone on Factor Two, August 2020
Library
Featuring 11021 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Reel Rock 12 (2017) Film
- Alpine Journal 1973 98-106 Champion Crystals (1973) Journal
- Great Gable and Borrowdale (1926) Guidebook
Recent updates
The first route to breach Avon's Main Wall. Named for Marcavity the Mystery Cat, from T.S. Elliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.
Macavity, Macavity: he defies the law of gravity.
Misspelt Mercavity for many years.
The first route to breach Avon's Main Wall.
Named for Marcavity the Mystery Cat, from T.S. Elliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.
Macavity, Macavity: he defies the law of gravity.
Misspelt Mercavity for many years.
Soldier whose experiences with Gurkha troops during the Malayan emergency (1950s) and Himalayan mountaineering (1970s) lead to a career in anthropology. Author of 'Out with the boys again', which satirised the heavyweight 1975 British Everest expedition (of which he was a participant).
References
[1] Mike Thompson, 'Out with the boys again' in The Games Climbers Play, ed. Ken Wilson, (Diadem Books. London, 1978) pp.344-352.
Soldier whose experiences with Gurkha troops during the Malayan emergency (1950s) and Himalayan mountaineering (1960s and 1970s) lead to a career in anthropology. Author of Out With The Boys Again, which satirised the heavyweight 1975 British Everest expedition (of which he was a participant).
References
[1] Mike Thompson, 'Out with the boys again' in The Games Climbers Play, ed. Ken Wilson, (Diadem Books. London, 1978) pp.344-352.
Bonington's first significant new route and the first to breach the impressive Main Wall at Avon Gorge.
The first route to breach Avon's Main Wall.
Named for Marcavity the Mystery Cat, from T.S. Elliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. "Macavity, Macavity: he defies the law of gravity"
Misspelt Mercavity for 50 years, still called this on RockFax/UKClimbing.com.