Climbers from United Kingdom

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]

Despite having acquired a reputation for being somewhat undiscerning in route quality, his best trad lines – particularly in Staffordshire, Pembroke and Lundy – are amongst the finest in the country.

Gary has had some close calls during his time establishing new routes. In 1988 he suffered a very serious head injury when a dislodged rock chopped his abseil rope while preparing a new line at Ban-y-gor, necessitating a long and grueling period of recovery. [4]

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, bolts on trad crags and poor quality routes being levelled at him.

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

[4] Mountain Issue 125 (1989), page 18 /library/11115/mountain-125

References

[1] Interview with UKClimbing.com on his very productive 2024/25 grit season https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2025/05/mike_adams_talks_about_an_incredible_season_on_the_gritstone-73958

Born in 1930, Joe Brown was one of the pivotal figures in post-war climbing in the UK. In the 1950s and 60s, and alongside contemporaries such as Don Whillans, he pushed the standard of rock climbing in the UK to new levels with the first ascents of classic routes such as Cemetery Gates (E1), Great Slab (E3) and The Great Crack (E3). Joe's routes frequently ventured into territory that was previously considered off-limits, often tackling bold and uncompromising features with minimal protection.

Brown was also an accomplished alpinist, establishing some of the more challenging routes of the day.

In 1955, Brown, along with George Band made the first ascent of Kangchenjunga (8586m), the third highest mountain in the world. This was the highest summit reached by a Briton at the time; Brown’s route took in an overhanging crack in the final wall and was probably the hardest climbing done at super-high altitude until the Mt. Everest South West Face expedition in 1975. [1]

An epic attempt on The Mustagh Tower followed in 1956, with treacherous snow conditions forcing retreat just short of the main summit.

In 1975, Brown led an expedition to Trango Tower, which was curtailed by Martin Boysen’s harrowing knee-jamming episode. The team returned the following year to make the first ascent, setting a new bench mark for continuously hard rock climbing at high altitude.

Other expeditions included Alaska, Ethiopia, Guyana, Iran, Morocco, the Pamirs, the Peruvian Andes and other Himalayan objectives, including two attempts on Everest.

In the 1960s, Brown was the star of several BBC outside broadcasts, most memorably The Old Man of Hoy.

It is sometimes suggested that Brown invented jamming. Though he refuted this as 'baloney' [4], he certainly employed the technique to great effect on many of his new routes.

His technical mastery is recounted by Jim Perrin:

With all the other greats of my time, I could understand how they climbed: fitness, physique, supple gymnasticism or sheer application. With Brown, there was something else at work. He was quite short, not heavily built, his muscles corded rather than developed, his movement smooth and deliberate. When I climbed with him, sometimes I would watch the way he made a move, copy it when I came to that point, and his way, that he had seen instantly, would be the least obvious and most immediately right. He was climbing's supreme craftsman, unerringly aware of the medium. [3]

References

[1] An extended biography written by Ollie Burrows is available here https://www.theclimbersshopjoebrownblog.co.uk/blog/joe-brown-biography including a list of many of Joe's first ascents.

[2] Interview with the BMC

[3] Obituary on UKClimbing written by Jim Perrin.

[4] Interview with Johnny Dawes, Best Forgotten Art, 1996.

Malcolm Smith is a Scottish boulderer and sport climber who was primarily active between 1990 and 2010. As an early adherent of training, and specifically training boards, he put his strength to excellent use, putting up many of the hardest boulder problems in the UK. He burst onto the scene with his quick second ascent of Hubble in 1992 aged just 18, at the time one of the hardest routes in the world.

Dave "Cubby" Cuthbertson:

He had the strength of character to turn his back on the tradition of climbing, the summit and the romance, and do his own thing. As he says, he's always got time for more training. [1]

He went on to climb some the last great problems in the UK such as Monk Life (8B+) and Pilgrimage (8B+). His traverses Lothlorian (8c+) and Leviathan (9a) remain unrepeated.

Alongside his hard bouldering, he repeated many of the hardest sport routes of the time including making the second ascent of Evolution at Raven Tor, the second ascent of Progress at Kilnsey as well as early repeats of Bat Route and Cry Freedom at Malham Cove. In 2010 he established Scotland's first 9a with his ascent of Hunger at The Anvil.

As dedicated to training as to climbing outdoors, his testpieces on the School Room 50° Board remain benchmarks of raw power and went unrepeated for years.

References

[1] Dave Cuthbertson interview with Niall Grimes on The Jam Crack Podcast Jan 2023. 1hr13mins. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2cj6Zduv5LRmqwotmqg5Nd?

[2] Splinter, a short portrait by Ben Pritchard

[3] Stone Love

[4] Interview with Neil Mann, 2017 https://www.theprojectmagazine.com/features/2017/2/14/interview-malcolm-smith

John Dunne is a British climber from Bradford who established many hard, high quality sport and trad routes in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s. In particular routes like Austrian Oak and Magnetic Fields at Malham Cove were some of the hardest in the UK at the time.

John also put up many excellent trad routes. For example The New Statesman at Ilkley included very difficult climbing in a dangerous position and was one of the hardest and best routes on gritstone when it was put up. Other 'last great problems' include The Big Issue (E9), Breathless (E9) and Divided Years (E9).

John's climbing attracted controversy throughout his career, notably his first ascent of Parthian Shot (E9) which some residents of Sheffield found hard to believe – despite evidence to the contrary.

References

[1] Interview with Adrian Berry March 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20061022044419/http://www.planetfear.com/article_detail.asp?a_id=466

[2] John Dunne - The Big Issue 1996 film by Sid Perou

Tom Randall is a British climber known for being a crack-climbing specialist, one half of WideBoyz and co-owner of Lattice Training.

References

[1] Lake District classic rock challenge (2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofg5BJgAzgs

Very capable comp climber who has a solid track record on rock too.

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPhG_yXpZp8

Shauna Coxsey is one of the most successful comp climbers, and most accomplished outdoor boulderers, in the UK. She has won two bouldering world cups, in 2016 and 2017 and went on to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021. Since retiring from comps she has excelled at outdoor bouldering.

While she was primarily a competition climber for the first part of her career, she did occasionally climb outside, with highlights such as the first female ascent of New Base Line 8B+ in 2014, making her one of a handful of women to have climbed 8B+ at the time.

Since retiring from competitions she has made rapid repeats of a string of 8B and harder boulders.

References

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20171209231653/http://www.shaunacoxsey.co.uk/

[2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/1WiWRSy1JEgXMpx4aBxA0g

Owner of one of the all time great psyche screams.

Pete Robins is a rock climber best known for his prolific development around North Wales, in particular in opening a huge number of quality new problems and areas.

References

[1] Interview with RockClimbingUK

[2] Profile from DMM, one of Pete's sponsors https://dmmwales.com/climbers/pete-robins

Dave Cuthbertson is an extremely influential Scottish climber who was operating at his peak in the 1980s. He was responsible for some of the hardest routes of the era, for example his route Requiem was established in 1983 and features ~8a climbing on trad gear, making it the hardest route in the UK at the time.

Welsh prodigy living in the shadow of his father Rich Skinner.

References

[1] https://open.spotify.com/episode/5d7YwIqK2q5RnOEOLeD9bX?

Tyler Landman was at top of the bouldering game from the mid-2000s to 2010s. He displayed outstanding ability from a young age with impressive repeats of Voyager (8B), The Ace (8B) at 15 and Dreamtime (pre break) (8B+) shortly after turning 16.

The following year he repeated the legendary Jade (8B+) and Ode to the Modern Man (8B+). Over the next year he would repeat numerous hard boulders including Practice of the Wild (8B+), New Base Line (8B+) and Radja (8B+).

In February of 2009 Ty went to Fontainebleau where his exploits were captured in Between The Trees by Keith Bradbury. In an unprecedented forest rampage he made short work of most of the hard classics of the time. He was the first person to climb The Big Five (a term that he coined) in a day, and made an early repeat of Satan i Helvete Assis (8C).

In 2013, on a flying visit from the US, he solved one of gritstone's 'last great problems', Smiling Buttress, at a highball 8B+. This remains one of the sternest challenges on grit.

He also won the 2017 British Bouldering Championships.

Rather than pursuing climbing full-time, he has focused on becoming a doctor in America, graduating in 2024.

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/outspoken_-_tyler_landman-13258

[2] https://soundcloud.com/user-569917310/outspoken-tyler-landman

John Gaskins is a controversial figure in British climbing. As well as an early repeat of Hubble he has claimed many ascents of hard routes and boulder problems. However for some of his hardest ascents it is unclear whether they happened. In particular he has been unable to describe the holds or sequences on his problem Shadowplay, and shortly after claiming the first ascent was unable to pull on to the problem to get photographs for his sponsors.

Similar inconsistencies exist on several other routes and problems he has claimed including Violent New Breed (9a+), Tranquilitas (8C) which John originally claimed as Karma of the Trees at 8A and Little Women Right Hand.

Despite the above John was a capable climber and almost certainly climbed several hard problems, such as Anaesthesia (8A+) at Woodwell.

References

[1] Interview with Simon Lee from UKBouldering.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbZALxPdjZg

[2] From the same interview as [1], footage of John climbing on his board https://vimeo.com/82936059.

[3] A Profile of John Gaskins by Simon Panton, On The Edge 120 page 48.