Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
4032 Climbers
7826 Climbs
20642 Ascents
Featured
Requiem | E8 Trad climb at Dumbarton Rock
A groundbreaking route, taking on the impressive central crack line up the centre of Dumbarton Rock.
Originally graded E7 when first climbed by Dave 'Cubby' Cuthbertson in 1983, it was upgraded to E8 by Dave MacLeod in 2000.
The route features traditionally protected 8a/+ climbing, making it not just the first E8 in the UK, but the first 8a or harder too. The route was established mostly ground-up, with Cubby just having a peek at the final moves from a top rope after an epic siege.
The route seems to have been consistently cited as having 8a+ climbing until the mid 2010s. Cubby's thoughts on the grade:
Well, I never gave it 8a+… I think sometimes the grades get a little bit inflated on traditionally protected routes, personally speaking. I'm still of that opinion... So, I've done Statement of Youth (8a) on Lower Pen Trwyn. It's actually quite a solid route, really. So, it's a very hard route to compare, to begin with. Requiem is obviously not a sport route, and it wasn't done in sport style either. So, it's got a slightly confused style of ascent, really. So, it's certainly no less than 8a, I wouldn't think, whether it's 8a or 8a+ or not, I guess it's neither here nor there. [1]
References
A groundbreaking route, taking on the impressive central crack line up the centre of Dumbarton Rock.
Originally graded E7 when first climbed by Dave 'Cubby' Cuthbertson in 1983, it was upgraded to E8 by Dave MacLeod in 2000.
The route features traditionally protected 8a/+ climbing, making it not just the first E8 in the UK, but the first 8a or harder too. The route was established mostly ground-up, with Cubby just having a peek at the final moves from a top rope after an epic siege.
The route seems to have been consistently cited as having 8a+ climbing until the mid 2010s. Cubby's thoughts on the grade:
Well, I never gave it 8a+… I think sometimes the grades get a little bit inflated on traditionally protected routes, personally speaking. I'm still of that opinion... So, I've done Statement of Youth (8a) on Lower Pen Trwyn. It's actually quite a solid route, really. So, it's a very hard route to compare, to begin with. Requiem is obviously not a sport route, and it wasn't done in sport style either. So, it's got a slightly confused style of ascent, really. So, it's certainly no less than 8a, I wouldn't think, whether it's 8a or 8a+ or not, I guess it's neither here nor there. [1]
References
Pics + Vids
Featuring 10003 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Noah Wheeler on Burden of Dreams 9A
Austin Hoyt on Lucid Dreaming 8C
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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 3911 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Will Gadd on The Enormocast (2019)
- Chelsea Murn on The Enormocast (2021)
- Tim Kang on The Enormocast (2023)
- Michaela Kiersch on Climbing Gold (2025)
Library
Featuring 14945 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Permanent Midnight (Low Start) (2025) Film
- Alpine Journal 2009 -i-iv Titles (2009) Journal
- Toll Road Climbs Guidebook