Climbers

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

References

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

Owner of one of the all time great psyche screams.

Shauna Coxsey is a British boulderer and one of the strongest female climbers in the UK. She has won two bouldering world cups, firstly in 2016 and then in 2017.

While she was primarily a competition climber in her early career (up to the 2020 Tokyo olympics) 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 and having a child she has switched focus to bouldering outdoors.

References

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

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

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

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.

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

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2025/10/pietro_vidi_on_the_grit-74044

Nico Pelorson is a prolific name and developer in the Fontainebleau scene and further afield. He is known for his ascents of Soudain Seul 9A and No Kpote Only 9A. He subsecquently downgraded both boulders to 8C+ and 8C respectively.

Nico is also known for his interesting music career being behind the masterpiece Mini Drill.

Lucien Martinez:

A last one for the road. In the 65° overhang of Blocage, the small ‘gym’ in Font, Nico Pelorson opened a boulder (red holds) with a move of pure crimping and core strength that seemed to me not to work. Yet Nico managed to do it, and even adding the two moves prior. It was around the time he made Big Island sit [Soudain Seul] and he was a monster. The climbers who passed by the gym and saw his boulder thought it was so impossible as to be a joke. [1]

References

[1] https://fanatic-climbing.com/interview-lucien-martinez-irreductible-acharne-interview-lucien-martinez-inveterate-and-tenacious/

[2] Interview with http://escalade9.wifeo.com/, November 2015 http://escalade9.wifeo.com/nicolas-pelorson.php

[3] https://bleau.info/profiles/nicolas.pelorson.2

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBS_nOUZUFY

Magnus Midtbø is a Norwegian sport climber and boulderer. He competed extensively between 2002 and 2015 while also climbing hard outdoors at the same time, notably he climbed Ali Hulk (extension sit start) 9b in 2010 (without knee pads!) and onsighted Cosi Fan Tutte 8c+ in 2013.

Since retiring from competitions he has started one of the most successful climbing youtube channels [2], and has also launched an online education platform called Altitude Climbing. [3]

References

[1] Interview with RockClimbingUK, 2012 https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php?topic=23695.0

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_2GqTlg--Q

Legendary British trad. climber and mountaineer with a legacy of many high quality first ascents particularly in SW England and N Wales.

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/in_focus/culm_dancing_-_a_second_wave_1968-73-13381

[2] https://www.alpin-ism.com/knowledge-base/news/pat-littlejohn-interview-1

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

References

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

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.

References

[1] Ask Me Anything on reddit, 2014 https://www.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/1whcrp/hi_folks_im_ethan_pringle_ask_me_anything_be_my/