Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
4254 Climbers
8213 Climbs
21919 Ascents
Featured
Jacky Godoffe
A pioneer of hard bouldering in Fontainebleau, throughout the 1980s and '90s Godoffe established dozens of the forest's classic modern testpieces.
His ascent of C'Était Demain (8A) in 1984 set a new level for bouldering in Europe. Coming just a year after L'Abbé Résina (7C), the climb was a significant step up in difficulty. With its difficulty concentrated into just a couple of hard moves, it is still regarded as a hard 8A and may have only been flashed once (Dave Graham, 2000).
In 1993 he raised the bar again, establishing Fatman, a contender for the first 8B in the forest. His relentless pursuit of both quality and difficulty saw him projecting what would later become The Big Island (8C), though a successful ascent eluded him.
In the early '00s Godoffe pioneered the art of indoor routesetting. His books on the subject are essential reading for those in the trade.
Success in climbing is just the tip of the iceberg. The most important thing for me is how to deal with such an important passion and also the rest of life. I am lucky to have had 5 children, and none of them never ever climbed, so at home at least I'm just a human trying to surf on the waves of life. This is a way harder than the most difficult boulder I ever climbed. [1]
References
[1] Interview in The Project Magazine (2017) https://www.theprojectmagazine.com/features/2017/5/13/jacky-godoffe-interview
[2] Bleau https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIreNKro7QU
[3] https://escaladepanorama.htm-fr.com/francais/bleau/itw/bl_jg-interview.htm
A pioneer of hard bouldering in Fontainebleau, throughout the 1980s and '90s Godoffe established dozens of the forest's classic modern testpieces.
His ascent of C'Était Demain (8A) in 1984 set a new level for bouldering in Europe. Coming just a year after L'Abbé Résina (7C), the climb was a significant step up in difficulty. With its difficulty concentrated into just a couple of hard moves, it is still regarded as a hard 8A and may have only been flashed once (Dave Graham, 2000).
In 1993 he raised the bar again, establishing Fatman, a contender for the first 8B in the forest. His relentless pursuit of both quality and difficulty saw him projecting what would later become The Big Island (8C), though a successful ascent eluded him.
In the early '00s Godoffe pioneered the art of indoor routesetting. His books on the subject are essential reading for those in the trade.
Success in climbing is just the tip of the iceberg. The most important thing for me is how to deal with such an important passion and also the rest of life. I am lucky to have had 5 children, and none of them never ever climbed, so at home at least I'm just a human trying to surf on the waves of life. This is a way harder than the most difficult boulder I ever climbed. [1]
References
[1] Interview in The Project Magazine (2017) https://www.theprojectmagazine.com/features/2017/5/13/jacky-godoffe-interview
[2] Bleau https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIreNKro7QU
[3] https://escaladepanorama.htm-fr.com/francais/bleau/itw/bl_jg-interview.htm
Pics + Vids
Featuring 10655 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Derek Thatcher on Angel of Pain 8b+
Adam Ondra on Super Crackinette 9a+
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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 4303 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Thomas Saluz and James O'Neil on The Careless Talk Climbing Podcast (2024)
- Jerry Moffatt on Jam Crack Podcast (2022)
- Sierra Blaire-Coyle on Climbing Gold (2024)
- Kevin Brown on The Testpiece Podcast (2024)
Library
Featuring 16148 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- The Circuit (2017) Film
- Alpine Journal 1977 233-235 Connor Europe (1977) Journal
- N Wales New Climbs Supplement (1983) Guidebook
Recent updates
References
Ungraded by FA Chris Schulte. The grade listed here is a wild guess and almost certainly incorrect. But aren’t they all?