Climbers

Johnny Dawes is a very influential climber in the British climbing scene, with many of his routesfrom the 1980s helping to define the era. Alongside contemporaries such as Jerry Moffatt and Ben Moon he helped take over the mantel from the likes of Ron Fawcett and pushed the standards in trad climbing to new levels, culminating in his ascent of Indian Face on Clogwyn Du'r Arddu (Cloggy).

Whilst Johnny's trad climbing was cutting edge he did not embrace sport climbing in the way that many did in the early 90s, though he did still climb up to 8b+, a very respectable level for the time.

Jon Barton: Do you think you ever shocked anybody Johnny?

Well I'd been at this mad party over in Wales. I left in the early hours to drive over to Sheffield, I like driving at night when the roads are quiet. I could tell you about the Snake Pass first thing at dawn, but that's boring hippy stuff. I got to Sheffield, and broke into the back of Al Rouse's house. I was in the kitchen making coffee, admiring Al's new decorating efforts, I went up stairs and jumped into his room and onto the bed, to be faced by two worried looking strangers hiding under the duvet. Al had moved out some weeks earlier.

JB: No Johnny, did you ever shock anybody with your climbing?

References

[1] Interview with Niall Grimes and Nick Dixon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gfAxYENlmU

[2] Features in 80's Birth of Extreme

[3] Interview for the film Stone Monkey, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdeaV_vfp5Q

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D88mEgfHJ-I

[5] Interview with Jon Barton, On The Edge 63 (1996) /library/11066/on-the-edge-63

[6] What Climbing Has Taught Me (2025) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L_uSJH7-30

James McHaffie is a prolific North Wales based trad climber who's also a very capable sport climber. He is one of the best trad onsight climbers in the UK (and potentially the world) with over a hundred E7 onsights to his name. He's also completed some impressive challenges, such as the 100 lakes extremes in a day.

On the 26th May 2021 James climbed Revelations at Raven Tor, the last route of 180 on his way to ticking every route in the book Extreme Rock. This incredible effort demonstrates a huge breadth and depth of experience, from relatively pedestrian climbs such as The Strand at Gogarth (North Stack And Main Cliff) to bold and intimidating leads such as Johnny Dawes' Indian Face and Jerry Moffatt's Master's Wall.

References

[1] Interview with DMM, September 2021 https://dmmwales.com/journal/may-2021/mchaffie-completes-extreme-rock

[2] Interview with RockClimbingUK, 2011 https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php?topic=23709.0

[3] Interview with March Langley for UKClimbing.com, September 2020 https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/james_mchaffie_-_the_cumbrian-13045

[4] Adam Hocking picture of James McHaffie during his 100 lakes extremes in a day challenge https://www.instagram.com/p/CDb9sm3DI-T/

[5] https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/ticklists/caffs_100_lakeland_extremes-890

Peak district based climber's climber.

References

[1] Training for the Olympic Qualification Series, 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX6NicPSTEE

[2] New Beginnings, 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3D0FfS4v8k

[3] https://alpineclub.org.nz/feature/interview-jim-pope

Alex Barrows is a British sport climber and boulderer. He specialises in onsighting and longer, endurance style routes.

References

[1] https://vimeo.com/user11693449

Features in Forte.

Drew Ruana is an American climber with an extensive list of V16 ascents including first ascents of "Distortion" V16, "Insomniac" V16, and "Maxwell's Demon Sit" V16. Growing up in the Vertical World climbing team in Seattle, Drew established many of the hardest routes in the Pacific Northwest in the late 2010s, with first ascents of "Brave New World" 9a and "The Assassin" 9a, the hardest routes in Washington and Oregon respectively. Following a brief spell in Salt Lake City where Drew competed on the IFSC circuit, Drew enrolled at the Colorado Schools of Mines in Golden, Colorado where he graduated with a degree in Computer Science in 2025. Alongside other goals, Drew is trying to tick every problem 8B+ or harder in Colorado.

References

[1] AMA on reddit.com/r/climbharder, January 2023 https://www.reddit.com/r/climbharder/comments/100qfg5/pro_rock_climber_drew_ruana_ama/

[2] AMA on reddit.com/r/climbharder, June 2023 https://www.reddit.com/r/climbharder/comments/14bxa21/drew_ruana_ama_round_2/

Jakob Schubert is an Austrian climber, and one of the best all rounders of his generation with many comp achievements (Bronze in the 2020 Tokyo olympics, winning the World Championships in 2023), sport routes (third ascent of Perfecto Mundo 9b+ in 2019, first ascent of B.I.G 9c in 2023) and boulder problems (fifth ascent of Alphane 9A in 2023).

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y47TXwLbCu8

Prolific explorer and first ascenionist in the peak district. Has also repeated many hard problems at home and abroad. Part owner of Beastmaker.

References

[1] Interview with Simon Lee

[2] Wedge Climbing profile

One half of the WideBoyz.

References

[1] Features in Without a Partner: Rope Solo of El Cap in Under 24rhs

Sébastien Bouin is a sport climber from the south of France. While being an exceptionally good all round climber, he is known for his extreme endurance climbing and establishing many hard first ascents. For example, his route Nordic Marathon in Flatanger takes in over 130m while climbing the out of the cave.

Fred Nicole is a legend of modern bouldering having established one of the first 8Bs with La Danse des Balrogs, the first 8B+ with Radja and many of the earliest 8Cs. He is also notable for some hard sport routes, in particular he established Bain de Sang in 1993 which gets 9a.

He is also notable for developing many now-famous bouldering areas around the world, including Hueco Tanks, Rocklands and many more.

References

[1] Interview with Nicholas Hobley for planetmountain.com, 13th August 2012 https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/interviews/fred-nicole-the-bouldering-interview.html

[2] Profile with Black Diamond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X_oq3ZdnmU

[3] Tour de Bloc by Udo Neumann, 2006 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exAhhD0n8QU

[4] Rocklands Origins, 1996 https://vimeo.com/80004515

[5] Interview with PlanetMountain.com, May 2018 https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/interviews/fred-nicole-bouldering-at-cresciano-and-melloblocco-in-tour-2018.html

[6] Fred Nicole, On The Edge Issue 105 page 42

[7] Interview with Kyle Dunsire, 2000 https://www.australianbouldering.com/interviews/fred.html

References

[1] https://www.grimper.com/news-jorge-diaz-rullo-conatus-spinoza

[2] Interview with desnivel, February 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPYi1svMkEk

Jack Palmieri is a British boulderer. He started climbing relatively late in life but has rapidly established himself by repeating a huge number of hard problems in the UK and abroad.

Around 2017 Jack spent a lot of time in Parisellas Cave, repeating nearly all the hard problems (including Silk Cut and Pilgrimage) in the cave as well as adding some new link ups of his own.

Using this as a base, he has then branched out in an attempt to seemingly climb every hard boulder in the UK. In 2022 alone he climbed over 100 8th grade boulder problems in the UK [1], a very impressive feat given the weather!

References

[1] Interview with UKClimbing.com, December 2022 https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/jack_palmieri_on_climbing_100_8s_in_a_year-14907

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/jack_palmieri_on_climbing_200_8s_in_a_year-15678

Niccolò Ceria is an Italian boulderer. He is known for his aesthetic approach to bouldering which focuses on the quality of the problem and the movement, as well as the difficulty.

A newer name in the British climbing landscape, however his reputation speaks for itself with the third ascent of Isles of Wonder SDS and the first ascent of Poseidon's Wrath .

Sollys YouTube channel also boasts a wealth of esoteric climbing content. Although he has moved from the South West of England he remains one of the most prolific developers of that area.

Noah Wheeler is a young and up and coming boulderer who currently resides in Colorado, USA. He is one half of Wheel Rock with his brother Benn Wheeler.

Noah burst onto the scene in 2022 in which he repeated three 8C/V15 boulders with G-Master, Paint it Black, and Delirium. In 2024 Noah repeated Sleepwalker 8C+/V16 and Insomniac 8C+/V16. In the dying days of 2024 Noah repeated the infamous Return of the Sleepwalker 9A/V17 at only 22 years of age, this made him the youngest person to climb 9A/V17 at the time of his ascent.

References

[1] https://www.grimper.com/news-mais-jeune-americain-nomme-noah-wheeler

[2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/3O6FI1hbAKBsel83KUqvNS?