Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
4034 Climbers
7839 Climbs
20676 Ascents
Featured
Malcolm Smith
Malcolm Smith is a Scottish boulderer and sport climber who was primarily active between 1990 and 2010. As an early adherent of training, and specifically training boards, he put his strength to excellent use putting up many of the hardest boulder problems in the UK. He burst onto the scene with his quick second ascent of Hubble in 1992 aged just 18, at the time one of the hardest routes in the world.
He had the strength of character to turn his back on the tradition of climbing, the summit and the romance, and do his own thing. As he says, he's always got time for more training. [1]
He went on to climb some the last great problems in the UK such as Monk Life (8B+) and Pilgrimage (8B+). His traverses Lothlorian (8c+) and Leviathan (9a) remain unrepeated.
Alongside his hard bouldering, he repeated many of the hardest sport routes of the time including making the second ascent of Evolution at Raven Tor, the second ascent of Progress at Kilnsey as well as early repeats of Bat Route and Cry Freedom at Malham Cove. In 2010 he established Scotland's first 9a with his ascent of Hunger at The Anvil.
As dedicated to training as to climbing outdoors, his testpieces on School Room 50° Board remain benchmarks of raw power and went unrepeated for years.
References
[1] Dave Cuthbertson interview with Niall Grimes on The Jam Crack Podcast Jan 2023. 1hr13mins. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2cj6Zduv5LRmqwotmqg5Nd?
[2] Splinter, a short portrait by Ben Pritchard
[3] Stone Love
[4] Interview with Neil Mann, 2017 https://www.theprojectmagazine.com/features/2017/2/14/interview-malcolm-smith
Malcolm Smith is a Scottish boulderer and sport climber who was primarily active between 1990 and 2010. As an early adherent of training, and specifically training boards, he put his strength to excellent use putting up many of the hardest boulder problems in the UK. He burst onto the scene with his quick second ascent of Hubble in 1992 aged just 18, at the time one of the hardest routes in the world.
He had the strength of character to turn his back on the tradition of climbing, the summit and the romance, and do his own thing. As he says, he's always got time for more training. [1]
He went on to climb some the last great problems in the UK such as Monk Life (8B+) and Pilgrimage (8B+). His traverses Lothlorian (8c+) and Leviathan (9a) remain unrepeated.
Alongside his hard bouldering, he repeated many of the hardest sport routes of the time including making the second ascent of Evolution at Raven Tor, the second ascent of Progress at Kilnsey as well as early repeats of Bat Route and Cry Freedom at Malham Cove. In 2010 he established Scotland's first 9a with his ascent of Hunger at The Anvil.
As dedicated to training as to climbing outdoors, his testpieces on School Room 50° Board remain benchmarks of raw power and went unrepeated for years.
References
[1] Dave Cuthbertson interview with Niall Grimes on The Jam Crack Podcast Jan 2023. 1hr13mins. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2cj6Zduv5LRmqwotmqg5Nd?
[2] Splinter, a short portrait by Ben Pritchard
[3] Stone Love
[4] Interview with Neil Mann, 2017 https://www.theprojectmagazine.com/features/2017/2/14/interview-malcolm-smith
Pics + Vids
Featuring 10021 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Adam Ondra on Wonderland 9b+
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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:
- Allison Vest on The Nugget (2021)
- Aidan Roberts on Strong Mind (2023)
- Connor Herson on The Struggle Climbing Show (2025)
- Matthew Mendes on Backseat Climbing (2026)
Library
Featuring 14948 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Gaia - George Ullrich - Flash Attempt Film
- Alpine Journal 1997 32-38 Fordham Arctic (1997) Journal
- Lundy (1994) Guidebook
Recent updates
References
Laura Rogora is an Italian professional rock climber, known for excelling in both competition climbing and elite sport climbing. She rose to prominence as a youth competitor, winning multiple World and European Youth Championship titles and qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Rogora is also one of the strongest female sport climbers in the world, having climbed routes graded up to 9b, and achieved several historic milestones. In 2021, she became only the third woman to redpoint a 9b route, and in 2025 she made history as the first woman to onsight an 8c+ route.
Rogora is now one of the best onsight climbers in the world. Only Alex Megos and Adam Ondra have more hard onsights to their name, and the gap is closing.
Laura Rogora is an Italian professional rock climber, known for excelling in both competition climbing and elite sport climbing. She rose to prominence as a youth competitor, winning multiple World and European Youth Championship titles and qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Rogora is also one of the strongest female sport climbers in the world, having climbed routes graded up to 9b, and achieved several historic milestones. In 2021, she became only the third woman to redpoint a 9b route, and in 2025 she made history as the first woman to onsight an 8c+ route.
Rogora is now one of the best onsight climbers in the world. Only Alex Megos and Adam Ondra have more hard onsights to their name, and the gap is closing rapidly.
Oriane Bertone is one of the most successful comp climbers of the 2020s and represented France at the Paris Olympics in 2024. She was also a Bleausard child prodigy, ticking many of the forest’s hard classics, and was the youngest person to climb 8B+ with her ascent of Golden Shadow in Rocklands, aged 12.
Bertone was born in Nice and grew up on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean in a family that loved the outdoors:
When you are a child, you just want to climb everywhere in trees and walls. That is what was fun about it. It was just natural. I started climbing outside and being outside just felt amazing. I've always liked nature, and we used to go hiking all the time with my parents.
Having dominated the youth comps in 2019, in 2020, aged 15, she focused again on rock where highlights included the first ascents of Satan i Helvete (Bas) (8B+) and Panonoramix et les Cyclopes (8c). The following year, the focus returned to comps, placing second in two boulder world cups, but she still found time to make a rapid repeat of Super Tanker (8B+).
Over the next five years Bertone racked up over a dozen IFSC podium finishes, with her first win in Prague in 2023. In 2024 she made the finals of the Paris Olympics, placing 8th. In 2026 she won the inaugural Pro Climbing League bouldering event in London and made the first female ascent of Gecko (assis) (8B+).
Her younger brother Max Bertone is also a notable comp and outdoor climber.
References
[1] Interview with Arthur Delicque for Grimper, August 2024 https://www.grimper.com/news-une-tisane-oriane
[2] The Ascent, a 2025 documentary about Oriane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL8HmtR--Fk
[3] https://www.olympics.com/en/news/french-sport-climber-oriane-bertone-2023-interview
Oriane Bertone is one of the most successful comp climbers of the 2020s and represented France at the Paris Olympics in 2024. She was also a Bleausard child prodigy, ticking many of the forest’s hard classics and was the youngest person to climb 8B+ with her ascent of Golden Shadow in Rocklands, aged 12.
Bertone was born in Nice and grew up on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean in a family that loved the outdoors:
When you are a child, you just want to climb everywhere in trees and walls. That is what was fun about it. It was just natural. I started climbing outside and being outside just felt amazing. I've always liked nature, and we used to go hiking all the time with my parents.
Having dominated the youth comps in 2019, in 2020, aged 15, she focused again on rock where highlights included the first ascents of Satan i Helvete (Bas) (8B+) and Panonoramix et les Cyclopes (8c). The following year, the focus returned to comps, placing second in two boulder world cups, but she still found time to make a rapid repeat of Super Tanker (8B+).
Over the next five years Bertone racked up over a dozen IFSC podium finishes, with her first win in Prague in 2023. In 2024 she made the finals of the Paris Olympics, placing 8th. In 2026 she won the inaugural Pro Climbing League bouldering event in London and made the first female ascent of Gecko (assis) (8B+).
Her younger brother Max Bertone is also a notable comp and outdoor climber.
References
[1] Interview with Arthur Delicque for Grimper, August 2024 https://www.grimper.com/news-une-tisane-oriane
[2] The Ascent, a 2025 documentary about Oriane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL8HmtR--Fk
[3] https://www.olympics.com/en/news/french-sport-climber-oriane-bertone-2023-interview
Oriane Bertone is one of the most successful comp climbers of the 2020s and represented France at Paris Olympics in 2024. She was also a Bleausard child prodigy, ticking many of the forest’s hard classics and was the youngest person to climb 8B+ with her ascent of Golden Shadow in Rocklands, aged 12.
Bertone was born in Nice and grew up on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean in a family that loved the outdoors:
When you are a child, you just want to climb everywhere in trees and walls. That is what was fun about it. It was just natural. I started climbing outside and being outside just felt amazing. I've always liked nature, and we used to go hiking all the time with my parents.
Having dominated the youth comps in 2019, in 2020, aged 15, she focused again on rock where highlights included the first ascents of Satan i Helvete (Bas) (8B+) and Panonoramix et les Cyclopes (8c). The following year, the focus returned to comps, placing second in two boulder world cups, but she still found time to make a rapid repeat of Super Tanker (8B+).
Over the next five years Bertone racked up over a dozen IFSC podium finishes, with her first win in Prague in 2023. In 2024 she made the finals of the Paris Olympics, placing 8th. In 2026 she won the inaugural Pro Climbing League bouldering event in London and made the first female ascent of Gecko (assis) (8B+).
Her younger brother Max Bertone is also a notable comp and outdoor climber.
References
[1] Interview with Arthur Delicque for Grimper, August 2024 https://www.grimper.com/news-une-tisane-oriane
[2] The Ascent, a 2025 documentary about Oriane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL8HmtR--Fk
[3] https://www.olympics.com/en/news/french-sport-climber-oriane-bertone-2023-interview
Katie Lamb is an American boulderer, currently based in the Yosemite area. She was the first woman to climb 8C+ with her ascent of The Dark Side (8C+) in 2025. She had previously climbed Box Therapy in 2023 which was regarded as 8C+ at the time, though now rated 8C.
Lamb was a successful youth lead comp climber, winning the PanAmerican Youth Championships. She went on to study computer science at Stanford University, which left less time for climbing. After graduating, she turned her focus to outdoor bouldering, steadily working through an enviable ticklist of hard problems.
Her ascent of The Dark Side (8C+) was the culmination of 20–25 sessions:
It’s easy to fall into the trap of treating friction on this boulder like passive resistance - a force that each scaler is at the whim of. But I learned to reshape this narrative: friction is something to sit with, to actively attend to, and to ask for help in understanding.
In 2026 she made the first ascent of 130 BPM (8C) in Yosemite, one of the hardest problems in the Valley.
Her older brother Andy Lamb is also a notable boulderer.
References
[1] Interview with Katie Lamb, Climbing.com https://www.climbing.com/people/katie-lamb-interview/
[2] Katie Lamb's 8C+ Ascent of The Dark Side, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STfiakiPNCY
[3] Interview with Sam MacIlwaine (2025) https://www.climbing.com/culture-climbing/golden-piton-2025-katie-lamb/
Katie Lamb is an American boulderer, currently based in the Yosemite area. She was the first woman to climb 8C+ with her ascent of The Dark Side (8C+) in 2025. She had previously climbed Box Therapy in 2023 which was regarded as 8C+ at the time, though now rated 8C.
Lamb was a successful youth lead comp climber, winning the PanAmerican Youth Championships. She went on to study computer science at Stanford University, which left less time for climbing. After graduating, she turned her focus to outdoor bouldering, steadily working through an enviable ticklist of hard problems.
Her ascent of The Dark Side (8C+) was the culmination of 20–25 sessions:
It’s easy to fall into the trap of treating friction on this boulder like passive resistance - a force that each scaler is at the whim of. But I learned to reshape this narrative: friction is something to sit with, to actively attend to, and to ask for help in understanding.
In 2026 she made the first ascent of 130 BPM (8C) in Yosemite, one of the hardest problems in the Valley.
References
[1] Interview with Katie Lamb, Climbing.com https://www.climbing.com/people/katie-lamb-interview/
[2] Katie Lamb's 8C+ Ascent of The Dark Side, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STfiakiPNCY
[3] Interview with Sam MacIlwaine (2025) https://www.climbing.com/culture-climbing/golden-piton-2025-katie-lamb/
Katie Lamb is an American boulderer, currently based in the Yosemite area. She is the first woman to climb 8C+ with her ascent of The Dark Side (8C+) in 2025. She had previously climbed Box Therapy in 2023 which was regarded as 8C+ at the time, though now rated 8C.
Lamb was a successful youth lead comp climber, winning the PanAmerican Youth Championships. She went on to study computer science at Stanford University, which left less time for climbing. After graduating, she turned her focus to outdoor bouldering, steadily working through an enviable ticklist of hard problems.
Her ascent of The Dark Side (8C+) was the culmination of 20–25 sessions:
It’s easy to fall into the trap of treating friction on this boulder like passive resistance - a force that each scaler is at the whim of. But I learned to reshape this narrative: friction is something to sit with, to actively attend to, and to ask for help in understanding.
In 2026 she made the first ascent of 130 BPM (8C) in Yosemite, one of the hardest problems in the Valley.
References
[1] Interview with Katie Lamb, Climbing.com https://www.climbing.com/people/katie-lamb-interview/
[2] Katie Lamb's 8C+ Ascent of The Dark Side, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STfiakiPNCY
[3] Interview with Sam MacIlwaine (2025) https://www.climbing.com/culture-climbing/golden-piton-2025-katie-lamb/
Oriane Bertone is one of the most successful comp climbers of the 2020s and represented France at Paris Olympics in 2024. She was also a Bleausard child prodigy, ticking many of the forest’s hard classics and was the youngest person to climb 8B+ with her ascent of Golden Shadow in Rocklands, aged 12.
Bertone was born in Nice, and grew up on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean in a family that loved the outdoors:
When you are a child, you just want to climb everywhere in trees and walls. That is what was fun about it. It was just natural. I started climbing outside and being outside just felt amazing. I've always liked nature, and we used to go hiking all the time with my parents.
Having dominated the youth comps in 2019, in 2020, aged 15, she focused again on rock where highlights included the first ascents of Satan i Helvete (Bas) (8B+) and Panonoramix et les Cyclopes (8c). The following year, the focus returned to comps, placing second in two boulder world cups, but she still found time to make a rapid repeat of Super Tanker (8B+).
Over the next five years Bertone racked up over a dozen IFSC podium finishes, with her first win in Prague in 2023. In 2024 she made the finals of the Paris Olympics, placing 8th. In 2026 she won the inaugural Pro Climbing League bouldering event in London and made the first female ascent of Gecko (assis) (8B+).
Her younger brother Max Bertone is also a notable comp and outdoor climber.
References
[1] Interview with Arthur Delicque for Grimper, August 2024 https://www.grimper.com/news-une-tisane-oriane
[2] The Ascent, a 2025 documentary about Oriane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL8HmtR--Fk
[3] https://www.olympics.com/en/news/french-sport-climber-oriane-bertone-2023-interview
Oriane Bertone is one of the most successful comp climbers of the 2020s and represented France at Paris Olympics in 2024. She was also a Bleausard child prodigy, ticking many of the forest’s hard classics and was the youngest person to climb 8B+ with her ascent of Golden Shadow in Rocklands, aged 12.
Bertone was born in Nice, and grew up on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean in a family that loved the outdoors:
When you are a child, you just want to climb everywhere in trees and walls. That is what was fun about it. It was just natural. I started climbing outside and being outside just felt amazing. I've always liked nature, and we used to go hiking all the time with my parents.
Having dominated the youth comps in 2019, in 2020, aged 15, she focused again on rock where highlights included the first ascents of Satan i Helvete (Bas) (8B+) and Panonoramix et les Cyclopes (8c). The following year, the focus returned to comps, placing second in two boulder world cups, but she still found time to make a rapid repeat of Super Tanker (8B+).
Over the next five years Bertone racked up over a dozen IFSC podium finishes, with her first win in Prague in 2023. In 2024 she made the finals of the Paris Olympics, placing 8th. In 2026 she won the inaugural Pro Climbing League bouldering event in London.
Her younger brother Max Bertone is also a notable comp and outdoor climber.
References
[1] Interview with Arthur Delicque for Grimper, August 2024 https://www.grimper.com/news-une-tisane-oriane
[2] The Ascent, a 2025 documentary about Oriane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL8HmtR--Fk
[3] https://www.olympics.com/en/news/french-sport-climber-oriane-bertone-2023-interview