Gary Gibson

Gary Gibson is a massively prolific first ascentionist. He started new routing in 1977 and continued to establish many new routes up until the first half of 2020, where ill-health significantly slowed his efforts. In 2021 he surpassed 5000 new routes, and at the time he had climbed approximately 17600 routes in total. [2]

In more recent years Gary has worked extensively to equip (and re-equip) many lower grade sport climbing venues which have subsequently become extremely popular. Crags such as Horseshoe Quarry and Masson Lees Quarry are prime examples of this, containing many of the most popular lower grade sport routes in their respective areas.

Gary's new routing activities have proved controversial at times with accusations of retro-claims, unsubstantiated ascents and poor quality routes being levelled at various times.

Alongside his new routing activities Gary also somehow found time to contribute extensively to many guidebooks to the UK.

Mark Pretty:

While the elite of British climbing have consistently ignored or dismissed his achievements … they cannot be so easily ignored. He is someone who, more than anybody else, has advanced easy to mid-grade sport climbing in this country — not to mention his trad routes. [3]

References

[1] https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Blood_Sweat_and_Smears/Dvn7xAEACAAJ?hl=en

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2021/09/gary_gibson_climbs_his_5000th_first_ascent-72866

[3] https://footlesscrow.blogspot.com/2019/10/gary-gibsons-blood-sweat-and.html