Climbers

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/

Shawn Raboutou is an extremely strong boulderer from the USA. He's the son of Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou and Didier Raboutou and brother to Brooke Raboutou.

Since his 2018 ascent of Off the Wagon SDS Shawn has continued to cement his reputation by establishing many hard problems at 8C+ and above, including Big Z, Fuck the System and The Story of Three Worlds. More recently he's pushed the highest levels with his ascent of Alphane for which he proposed 9A and Megatron, another 9A.

References

[1] Down and up Karma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ9sCAhRh1M?t=481.

[2] Interview with Magnus Midtbø 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BiC-ypXGLU

The most successful competition climber of all time and first gold medalist in climbing in the Tokyo 2020 olympics.

References

[1] A profile of Janja from Reel Rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_W2hT-HDY

[2] Winning the olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2020 https://www.instagram.com/p/CSPRpH_l81i/

[3] Interview with Natalie Berry for UKClimbing.com, 3rd May 2022 https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/climb_for_gold_-_janja_garnbret_olympic_champion-14458

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmlSSD7jDSI

[5] Interview with John Bergman for climbing.com, August 2024 https://www.climbing.com/people/janja-garnbret-post-olympic-2024-interview/

[6] Video with Magnus Midtbø, July 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EsdeUBBVNM

Half Norwegian, half Belgian. Based around Bergen, NO.

Ryan Pasquill is a British climber known for his bold, intuitive climbing style as well as his ability to crimp.

Tyler Landman is considered by many as one of the greatest British boulderers of all time, and at one point one of the world’s best. Ty displayed outstanding ability from a young age with impressive repeats of Voyager (8B), The Ace (8B) and Dreamtime (pre break) (8B+) at 15!

The following year he repeated the legendary Jade (8B+) and Ode to the Modern Man (8B+). Over the next year he would repeat serval 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 which he climbed multiple hard boulders quickly, was perhaps the first person to climb The Big Five in a day, and made an early repeat of Satan i Helvete Assis (Pre December 2013) (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

References

[1] Second 8a.nu account https://www.8a.nu/user/peter-satt/bouldering

Mark Pretty on the first time he met Andy:

One grey and rather bleak day I had hitched in and met, by chance, Stevie Haston. We'd gone up to Windy Ledge [at Stoney Middleton] where a team had assembled to attempt Circe. I was well out of my depth so settled down to watch the heroics on display. A young lad with lots of hair and enthusiasm who had repeated the route the day before (as he kept reminding everyone!) volunteered to clip the bolt. At the wire before the bolt he had a bit of a wobble, grabbed the wire which promptly came out and he then hit the ledge and bounced off it! The belayer fell over and was dragged towards the 70 foot drop. The quick thinking of Stevie, who jumped on the belayer and stopped his slide, saved the day. The youth re-emerged on the ledge, brushed himself down and was keen to go again...! Needless to say he wasn't allowed that opportunity! [5]

References

[1] North Stack Wall, 1980s https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/3463204157079068

[2] Andy in Longland's Cafe, Hathersage 1987. By Bernard Newman https://www.instagram.com/p/CZYqXzmNuWS/

[3] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/goodby-to-british-rock-climbing-icon-andy-pollitt.html

[4] https://www.thebmc.co.uk/remembering-andy-pollitt

[5] Interview with Mark Pretty September 2017, https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/mark_zippy_pretty_and_andy_pollitt-9762

One thing that one sees in climbing is that over the period of years influential figures come along...and because of their activities they seem to trigger other people off, and I think that Livesey is one of these. Ok he may not be the finest climber, maybe there are others that are better, but his activities were so widespread, diverse and sensational in nature that people were talking about it. He was the controversial figure of the day. [1]

Livsey was an early proponent of training for climbing, a practice that was then taken on board and used to great affect by the following generation of climbers including Ron Fawcett, Jerry Moffatt and Ben Moon.

Mick Ward:

In running, kayaking and caving, he'd been prevented from being the absolute best by lack of natural talent. Pete looked at climbing more carefully, saw an athletic curve just beginning to take off, knew the time was ripe for him to make his move. [2]

References

[1] Ken Wilson in Rock Athlete

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/the_stone_children_-_cutting_edge_climbing_in_the_1970s-13297

References

[1] https://www.rockandice.com/climbing-news/interview-japanese-crusher-shinichiro-nomura/

A prolific force in the Lake District in the UK, establishing many hard and bold trad lines throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

Hazel Findlay is one of the UK's most accomplished female climbers with many hard sport and trad ascents to her name.

The daughter of Steve Findlay, she started climbing at an early age and was active around the south west of the UK. In 2011 she climbed Once Upon a Time in the Southwest at Dyers Lookout and became the first British woman to climb E9, and in 2014 she climbed Fish Eye at Oliana to become the first British woman to climb 8c.

Hazel has continually expanded the limits of her climbing with a long string of impressive sport and trad climbs. Of particular note is her ascent of Magic Line E10/8c+ in 2019, a Ron Kauk route in Yosemite with a reputation born from repelling a slew of very capable aspirants. Hazel's ascent was only the third in 25 years, and the second placing the gear on lead.

In 2022 she became the second British woman (after Emma Twyford) to climb 9a with her ascent of Escalatamàsters.

Alongside her climbing she has a deep interest in the mental aspects of climbing and runs Strong Mind, a coaching company focused on mental techniques for improving your climbing.

References

[1] Interview with Soline Kentzel for grimper.com, May 2023 https://www.grimper.com/news-femmes-falaises-hazel-findlay-you-don-need-balls-to-be-bold

[2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/7ckmpivT5UIrFCU7idZqNg?

[3] Interview with Sonnie Trotter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a07_bI4lrFI

Features in E96c and Clown Ascending.

On E96c:

It was from my warehouse home here that my involvement with E9 6c was filmed and recorded. This happened within the last few weeks of my departure from this special perch. John Mortimer’s son, Jeremy, produced an excellent piece for Radio Three called, ‘Between the Ears’. Dominic Clemence produced and directed the film for BBC2. This was the attempted story of The Indian Face, a fierce route on the cathedral of rock, Clogwyn Du Arddu, on the flank of Snowdon. I liked the bit where I am sat under my climbing wall in the studio flippantly explaining the image I painted on the scar where the flake had been. This small granite flake had come away in my arms whilst testing the peg that had been smashed into its side. I drew a quick sketch on the wall of ‘the hunt‘, something that had stayed with me from viewing the Lascaux Caves in France. Only two people had seen it. Paul Williams had photographed it and Johnny Dawes had scraped it off (or rather, an acolyte had scraped it off). One had died and the other had seemingly gone mad! [1]

References

[1] http://footlesscrow.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/sacred-ground.html

[2] Interview with Adrian Berry June 2004 https://web.archive.org/web/20061022044820/http://www.planetfear.com/article_detail.asp?a_id=250

References

[1] https://www.climbing.com/people/katie-lamb-interview/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STfiakiPNCY

[3] Interview with Sam MacIlwaine (2026) https://www.climbing.com/culture-climbing/golden-piton-2025-katie-lamb/

References

[1] https://fanatic-climbing.com/babsi-zangerl-nous-parle-trad-et-grimpe-en-general-babsi-zangerl-on-trad-and-climbing-in-general/

[2] Interview with Sonnie Trotter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_KQe7o3zoc

[3] https://www.onsight.com.au/2014/04/barbara-zangerl/