Climbers

Creator of UKBouldering.com.

Mike Beck is a key figure in the Utah bouldering community, best known as the "The Mayor of Little Cottonwood Canyon" and the author of the Utah Bouldering Guide, a highly sought after guide book now known as the "Black Bible". Beck has been developing routes in LCC since 1986. Some of Beck's notable first ascents feature many classics in LCC, these boulders include Twisted (6C), Beck Face (7A+), Mr. Smiley (7A) along with hundreds of others. Beck is considered as a pioneer during the explosion for bouldering development in the early 1990's. Beck resides in the Salt Lake area and can still be found searching for new lines in LCC on most days throughout the year.

Mike Boyd is a Scottish climber who rose to fame via YouTube. Mike has a YouTube channel where he attempts to learn new skills (e.g. solving the Rubik's Cube, breaking a glass with his voice). One of his challenges was climbing related, but after completing the challenge he continued to climb and set himself new climbing-related challenges, while documenting them on a dedicated channel.

Mike call was a prolific maker of climbing films in the pre-digital era, documenting many of the big names in US climbing in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Mike was also involved with Pusher holds, including shaping one of the first 'macros' with The Boss. [1]

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/BUYCVJjg-Lw/

Mike was the subject of the song Michael from Mountains by Joni Mitchell. [3]

References

[1] https://jukebox.uaf.edu/interviews/2878

[2] Michael from Mountains by Joni Mitchell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsSrvYMvx2E

[3] Glen Denny , Steve Roper Yosemite in the Sixties. United States: Patagonia, 2013.

It was mid-summer, a time when afternoons were warm and nights cool. Graham, seventeen at the time, and his partners Gib Lewis (18) and Rick Accomazzo (18) racked their hexes and nuts in Camp 4 under a thick haze of campfire smoke. “There might have been some beer or maybe something else (I’m guessing pot),” they started joking about making up their Italian names. “Rick didn’t have to do anything with his name because he was Italian. We decided to call Gib Lewis Antonio Gibbo. And I’d always really admired Emilio Comici, so, you know, I’m Michelangelo Gramicci.” [1]

References

[1] https://gripped.com/profiles/interview-with-mike-graham-founder-of-gramicci-and-stone-master-press/