Climbers

References

[1] Stone Free (Film, 2015) by Alistair Lee

[2] Lines, Jules. Tears of the Dawn. United Kingdom: Scottish Mountaineering Trust, 2020.

Udo Neumann:

There are two factors which determine the quality of movement: Precision on one side, speed on the other. If you are very precise, like Marc le Menestrel, you tend to be rather slow. If you are fast you tend to be sloppy. It's always a trade-off. In my opinion, Klem is the climber at the moment who balances these factors best and potentially can climb the hardest things.

Of course there is more to hard climbing but this gives you an idea of Klem's style - very accurate and very speedy. A friend once described Klem as "digital", either 'on' or 'off'.

Spending time around him is like being surrounded by a nice, comforting but blurry cloud, whereas Klem himself seems to live in this ultrasharp, high contrast environment where things and thoughts happen very quickly. When tired or bored Klem falls asleep instantly, with little awareness of what's going on around him. [1]

References

[1] Klem Lostkot by Mike Robertson, On The Edge Issue 114, page 54

An influential climber in the UKs Peak District throughout the 1960s and 70s.

I climbed solo for the first year because I had no one to climb with, I didn't know anybody. I treated it like a job, I'd go out at 8 O’clock in the morning and take my sandwiches, climb to about 12, eat my lunch and then climb to about 4 O'clock and then go home. I did about 4,000 foot of solo in a day and that was every week. 1 went about 38-39 weeks on the trot around Birchens, finding new bits to do and treating it as a bit like a workout. [4]

Tom once climbed "157 routes, mostly hard" [3] in a day on Stanage.

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2001/09/tom_proctor_dies-1249

[2] On The Edge, Issue 112 page 12

[3] Alan Rouse in Two's a Crowd, Mountain issue 21, page 28

[4] The Power of Climbing (1991), page 35

References

[1] Obsession Fatale by Ian Parnell. On The Edge 115, page 42.

References

[1] Brooke Rabotou's World Cup Journey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPO4sr4pQmk

[2] Interview with Beth Rodden (2026) https://www.climbing.com/culture-climbing/golden-piton-2025-brooke-raboutou/

Mick Fowler is a British mountaineer and climber. He is known for his adventurous, lightweight and ambitious ascents in the Himalaya as well as a range of very adventurous new routes in the UK.

Tom is a British expat living in Spain, where he has done most of his harder climbing.

References

[1] https://www.climbing.com/people/tom-bolger-interview-pro-climber/

Arnis Strapcans was a British climber who was active in the 1970s. He was killed in a suspected fall from the Brenva Spur on Mont Blanc in 1980.

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rock_talk/the_late_arnie_strapcans-423688

[2] https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/rock_talk/arnie_strapcans-390263?v=1#x5631533

Camille is a French boulderer whom resides in the infamous Fontainebleau. He is well known for his 70+ session siege on Soudain Seul 9A/V17 in which he repeated The Big Island 8C/V15, 43 times.

More recently Camille has picked up a number of 8C/V15 ascents and has had over 100 session s on Imothep Assis which is believed to be around 9A/V17.

References

[1] https://bleau.info/profiles/camille.coudert

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTVFRm5kMeE

Mick Ward:

Ed Drummond was probably the most visionary figure in British climbing history. He left a legacy of stunning routes and superb writing. And he had a reputation for having the most complicated, mercurial character imaginable. [2]

References

[1] https://www.thebmc.co.uk/a-dream-of-edwin-drummond

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/ed_drummond_1945-2019_-_a_retrospective-11940

[3] https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/rock_talk/rip_ed_drummond-704064

[4] http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/3195076/RIP-Edwin-Drummond

[5] https://www.thebmc.co.uk/thats-me-ed-drummond