Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
3245 Climbers
6237 Climbs
16339 Ascents
Featured
Jerry Moffatt
Jerry Moffatt was at the forefront of British climbing from the early eighties to mid-nineties. Along with Ben Moon Jerry established many hard firsts in the UK, Germany, France and USA including historic ascents such as The Face, Revelations and Liquid Ambar, all at the cutting edge of difficulty at the time they were established.
Jerry was an early proponent of bouldering in it's own right. From early ascents on The Bowderstone he went on to put up a host of hard classics such as The Ace at Stanage and Dominator in Yosemite.
References
[1] The Real Thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brbxoKEgsw0
[2] Stone Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FguueX9jM78
[3] 80's Birth of Extreme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkj3Buhfi2k
[4] Statement of Youth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeqI9axxrco
[5] Portrait by Chris Gore https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/3456311291101688
[6] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/2732067140192777
[7] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/876401569092686
[8] One Summer by Ben Pritchard, 1994 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnGf69g6Igc
[9] Interview with Wedge Climbing, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBmqm3VTrn4
[10] Photoshoot for DMM 1995 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu8uyrStQ6I/
[11] https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ixcvxW0xNrX07Hxwxw8fE
[12] https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ITuiLGEgJB8kpavKkNOIK
Jerry Moffatt was at the forefront of British climbing from the early eighties to mid-nineties. Along with Ben Moon Jerry established many hard firsts in the UK, Germany, France and USA including historic ascents such as The Face, Revelations and Liquid Ambar, all at the cutting edge of difficulty at the time they were established.
Jerry was an early proponent of bouldering in it's own right. From early ascents on The Bowderstone he went on to put up a host of hard classics such as The Ace at Stanage and Dominator in Yosemite.
References
[1] The Real Thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brbxoKEgsw0
[2] Stone Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FguueX9jM78
[3] 80's Birth of Extreme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkj3Buhfi2k
[4] Statement of Youth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeqI9axxrco
[5] Portrait by Chris Gore https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/3456311291101688
[6] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/2732067140192777
[7] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/876401569092686
[8] One Summer by Ben Pritchard, 1994 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnGf69g6Igc
[9] Interview with Wedge Climbing, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBmqm3VTrn4
[10] Photoshoot for DMM 1995 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu8uyrStQ6I/
[11] https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ixcvxW0xNrX07Hxwxw8fE
[12] https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ITuiLGEgJB8kpavKkNOIK
Pics + Vids
Featuring 7904 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Andy Earl on High Fidelity (8B)
Zander Waller on Sleepwalker (8C+)
Marine Thevenet on Compass North (8B+)
Support
If you've enjoyed using climbing-history.org please consider supporting the project by joining the patreon. Your support helps pay for the hosting required to keep the site running. Everyone who donates gets added to the supporters page.
You may also be interested in the Mountain Heritage Trust, a charity dedicated to preserving the rich history of climbing and mountaineering. Their collection includes many unique and valuable items, from rare guidebooks through to the boots worn by Doug Scott on the 1977 Ogre expedition.
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 3737 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Pete Whittaker on Jam Crack Podcast, January 2017
- Wolfgang Güllich on Written in Stone, November 2023
- Hoseok Lee on The Careless Talk Climbing Podcast, October 2024
- Natalia Grossman on The Enormocast, March 2024
Library
Featuring 11014 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Reel Rock 8 Film
- Alpine Journal 1882 Vol 11 39-44 In Memoriam (1882) Journal
- Gogarth (1990) Guidebook
Recent updates
4 sessions
References
On the second pitch:
No single move is crazy, but for thirty minutes your feet are just sliding off the holds, so it’s more of a mind test. [1]
And the crux seventh pitch:
It’s probably a 5.13a slab to a really hard three-move section. Finally one day my foot just didn’t slip. I got the body position just right and I got through it. [1]
and the grade:
At the time I’d never heard of a slab harder than 5.13c so we just rated it that, I think in modern grade it would be firmly into 5.14.
References
[1] https://www.climbing.com/places/how-hard-can-slab-climbs-actually-get/