All climbers

Strong Yorkshire and Lakes activist in the 1970s and 1980s, now moved to Utah where he is a Mathematics professor and continues to climb.

References

[1] Becoming a Climbing Champion, EpicTV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-zacvJbNiw

Karen Magog is a strong British female sport and trad climber. She has onsighted or flashed over 100 E5s and over 20 E6s as well as headpointing up to E8 with her ascent of Bleed in Hell at Bowderstone Crags. On sport she has climbed up to 8b+ with her ascent of Mundo Feliz at Villanueva Del Rosario. [1]

References

[1] https://climbonline.co.uk/2020/05/02/climbing-is-my-passion-by-karin-magog/

[2] Interview with.Tanya Meredith (2026) https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/behind_the_scenes_karin_magog-16979

For most of the 90s and early 00s probably the strongest English climber based in the south west, responsible for many hard sport routes in the Torquay area and a pretty handy trad. climber and deep water soloist too.

Oriane Bertone is one of the most successful comp climbers of the 2020s and represented France at the Paris Olympics in 2024. She was also a Bleausard child prodigy, ticking many of the forest’s hard classics, and was the youngest person to climb 8B+ with her ascent of Golden Shadow in Rocklands, aged 12.

Bertone was born in Nice and grew up on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean in a family that loved the outdoors:

When you are a child, you just want to climb everywhere in trees and walls. That is what was fun about it. It was just natural. I started climbing outside and being outside just felt amazing. I've always liked nature, and we used to go hiking all the time with my parents.

Having dominated the youth comps in 2019, in 2020, aged 15, she focused again on rock where highlights included the first ascents of Satan i Helvete (Bas) (8B+) and Panonoramix et les Cyclopes (8c). The following year, the focus returned to comps, placing second in two boulder world cups, but she still found time to make a rapid repeat of Super Tanker (8B+).

Over the next five years Bertone racked up over a dozen IFSC podium finishes, with her first win in Prague in 2023. In 2024 she made the finals of the Paris Olympics, placing 8th. In 2026 she won the inaugural Pro Climbing League bouldering event in London and made the first female ascent of Gecko (assis) (8B+).

Her younger brother Max Bertone is also a notable comp and outdoor climber.

References

[1] Interview with Arthur Delicque for Grimper, August 2024 https://www.grimper.com/news-une-tisane-oriane

[2] The Ascent, a 2025 documentary about Oriane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL8HmtR--Fk

[3] https://www.olympics.com/en/news/french-sport-climber-oriane-bertone-2023-interview

A key figure in the 1970s gritstone renaissance.

References

[1] Interview with Xa White for UKClimbing.com, July 2023 https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2023/07/tom_pearce_on_bold_trad_homemade_gear_and_the_north_york_moors-73391

References

[1] UKC Profile of Andy Earl

[2] Andy competing at CWIF in 2008 https://www.instagram.com/p/CMXRnL7j1pW/

[3] Andy Earl on Top of the World by Steve Crowe, May 2020 https://climbonline.co.uk/2020/05/05/andy-earl-on-top-of-the-world/