Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
4256 Climbers
8237 Climbs
22003 Ascents
Featured
Barbara Zangerl
Barbara Zangerl is an Austrian climber best known for her trad. and multi-pitch climbing. Together with her partner Jacopo Larcher she has climbed many of the hardest big wall and multi-pitch routes in the world: Magic Mushroom (E10), The Nose (E9), Bellavista (E9), Silbergeier (8b+), Des Kaisers neue Kleider (8b+) and End of Silence (8b+) to name a few.
Babsi started off as a boulderer, notably climbing Pura Vida (8A+) in Magic Wood in 2008. This was one of the hardest problems ever climbed by a woman at the time.
While she has largely stopped bouldering at the highest level she is a very capable sport and trad climber, operating at or near the cutting edge in both disciplines. In 2014 she made the first female ascent of Prinzip Hoffnung (E9), then in 2016 she made the second ascent of Achemine (E9) at Dumbarton Rock. In 2017 she made the second ascent of Gondo Crack (E9) and the first female ascent of Muy Caliente! (E9) in Pembroke. In 2023 she repeated Meltdown (E11) in Yosemite, one of the hardest traditional pitches in the world at the time and only the fourth ascent since Beth Rodden made the first ascent in 2008.
In 2024 Babsi cemeted her place in history by becoming the first person to climb a free route on El Capitan first go by flashing Freerider (E7).
Alongside being a professional climber she also works part time as a radiographer in Austria.
References
[2] Interview with Sonnie Trotter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_KQe7o3zoc
Barbara Zangerl is an Austrian climber best known for her trad. and multi-pitch climbing. Together with her partner Jacopo Larcher she has climbed many of the hardest big wall and multi-pitch routes in the world: Magic Mushroom (E10), The Nose (E9), Bellavista (E9), Silbergeier (8b+), Des Kaisers neue Kleider (8b+) and End of Silence (8b+) to name a few.
Babsi started off as a boulderer, notably climbing Pura Vida (8A+) in Magic Wood in 2008. This was one of the hardest problems ever climbed by a woman at the time.
While she has largely stopped bouldering at the highest level she is a very capable sport and trad climber, operating at or near the cutting edge in both disciplines. In 2014 she made the first female ascent of Prinzip Hoffnung (E9), then in 2016 she made the second ascent of Achemine (E9) at Dumbarton Rock. In 2017 she made the second ascent of Gondo Crack (E9) and the first female ascent of Muy Caliente! (E9) in Pembroke. In 2023 she repeated Meltdown (E11) in Yosemite, one of the hardest traditional pitches in the world at the time and only the fourth ascent since Beth Rodden made the first ascent in 2008.
In 2024 Babsi cemeted her place in history by becoming the first person to climb a free route on El Capitan first go by flashing Freerider (E7).
Alongside being a professional climber she also works part time as a radiographer in Austria.
References
[2] Interview with Sonnie Trotter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_KQe7o3zoc
Pics + Vids
Featuring 10710 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Kyota Hashimoto on Ukiyo 8B+
Sam Weir on The Lion's Share 8C
Martin Mobråten on Wolverine 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 4315 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- James Turnbull on The Mountain People Podcast (2021)
- Alex Megos on The Struggle Climbing Show (2022)
- Alex Honnold on CIA - Climbing Intelligence Agency (2022)
- Benn Wheeler, Josh Horsley and Michael Rosato on The Testpiece Podcast (2026)
Library
Featuring 16160 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Smith Rock Film
- Alpine Journal 1995 279-281 S America Antarctica (1995) Journal
- Poets' Walk Climbs Guidebook
Recent updates
Guardian of Cheddar climbing in the 1970s and guidebook author.
Anglo-American climber, Alpinist and author.
References
[1] https://gripped.com/profiles/iconic-alpinist-and-author-chris-jones-dies/
Northern Irish trad. maestro and handy boulderer.
North York Moors enthusiast and latterly Llanberis slatehead. Cookson has ploughed his own furrow, initially on highball boulders and micro routes, more recently on the technicalities of the North Wales slate quarries.
Anglo-American climber, alpinist, photographer, climbing historian, and author. His 'Climbing in North America' is one of the first serious books to survey the history of climbing in North America.
References
[1] https://gripped.com/profiles/iconic-alpinist-and-author-chris-jones-dies/
Anglo-American climber, Alpinist and author.
References
[1] https://gripped.com/profiles/iconic-alpinist-and-author-chris-jones-dies/
For most of the 90s and early 00s probably the strongest English climber based in the south west, responsible for many hard sport routes in the Torquay area and a pretty handy trad. climber and deep water soloist too.
For most of the 90s and 00s probably the strongest English climber based in the south west, responsible for many hard sport routes in the Torquay area and a pretty handy trad. climber and deep water soloist too.
Named after Ken's father.
Cheerful sport, trad., boulder and competition climber with many hard ascents to his name in the 90s and 00s, often in tandem with fellow Lancastrian Ian Vickers.
Free climbs the first three pitches of West Route (A3) before heading left into new territory.
Named after the Ted Hughes poetry collection.
References
First three pitches free climbed by Crow last two pitches freed by West Route.
First three pitches climbed on the 17th, Littlejohn abseiled in to finish the route on the 18th.
Free climbs the first three pitches of West Route (A3) before heading left into new territory.
Named for the Ted Huges collection of poetry