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Alexander Huber, is a German rock climber who is considered one of the greatest and most influential climbers in the history of rock climbing. Huber came to prominence in the early-1990s as the world's strongest sport climber after the passing of Wolfgang Güllich; he was the second-ever person to redpoint a 9a (5.14d) graded route with his 1992 ascent of Om, and has latterly come to be known as the first-ever person to redpoint a 9a+ (5.15a) graded route with this 1996 ascent of Open Air.
Fred Rouhling is a French rock climber and boulderer, noted for creating and repeating some of the earliest grade 9a (5.14d) sport climbing routes in the world, including Hugh in 1993, the first-ever French 9a (5.14d) sport route. Rouhling is also known for the controversy from his proposed grading of 9b (5.15b) for his 1995 route Akira, which would have made it the world's first-ever 9b-graded sport route; 25 years later, it was graded at 9a (5.14d).
Steve McClure is a British rock climber and climbing author, who is widely regarded as Britain's leading and most important sport climber for a period that extends for over two decades, starting from the late 1990s. In 2017, he created Rainman, Britain's first-ever 9b (5.15b) sport route, and by that stage was responsible for developing the majority of routes graded 9a (5.14d) and above in Britain. Although mainly known for sport climbing, McClure has also been one of the most successful British traditional climbers, and British onsight climbers.
Dai Koyamada is a Japanese rock climber and known as one of the leading boulderers of his generation who established some of the first-ever boulder problems at 8C (V15). He has also established and repeated, some of the hardest sport climbs in the world.
In the history of rock climbing, the three main sub-disciplines—bouldering, single-pitch climbing, and big wall climbing—can trace their origins to late 19th-century Europe. Bouldering started in Fontainebleau, and was advanced by Pierre Allain in the 1930s, and John Gill in the 1950s. Big wall climbing started in the Dolomites, and was spread across the Alps in the 1930s by climbers such as Emilio Comici and Riccardo Cassin, and in the 1950s by Walter Bonatti, before reaching Yosemite where it was led in the 1950s to 1970s by climbers such as Royal Robbins. Single-pitch climbing started pre-1900 in both the Lake District and in Saxony, and by the late-1970s had spread widely with climbers such as Ron Fawcett (Britain), Bernd Arnold (Germany), Patrick Berhault (France), Ron Kauk and John Bachar (USA).
Dave MacLeod is a Scottish rock climber, ice climber, mixed climber, and climbing author. MacLeod was the second-ever person free solo a 8b+ (5.14a) graded route, and for climbing one of the hardest traditional climbing routes in the world.
Adam Ondra is a Czech professional rock climber, specializing in lead climbing, bouldering, and competition climbing. In 2013, Rock & Ice described Ondra as a prodigy and the leading climber of his generation. Ondra is the only male athlete to have won World Championship titles in both disciplines in the same year (2014) and is also the only male athlete to have won the World Cup series in both disciplines.
Sonnie Trotter, is a Canadian professional climber, known for his strength in many rock climbing disciplines – particularly traditional climbing – and contributing to hundreds of first free ascents around the world.
Ethan Pringle is an American rock climber with notable ascents in sport climbing, in traditional climbing, and in bouldering. He has also been active in competition climbing, winning the American national competition lead climbing championships in both youth and adult formats, and silver at the World Youth Championships.
Hazel Findlay is a British traditional climber, sport climber and big wall climber. She was the first female British climber to climb a route graded E9, and a route graded 8c (5.14b). She did the third ascent of the Yosemite traditional route Magic Line 5.14c (8c+). She has free climbed El Capitán four times on four different routes and made many first female ascents on other routes. Climbing magazine gave her their Golden Piton Award (Alpine) for traditional climbing in 2013.
Alexander Megos is a German rock climber specializing in sport climbing, bouldering and competition climbing. In 2013, he became the first-ever climber to onsight a 9a (5.14d) graded route. He has made the first free ascent (FFA) of some of the hardest sport climbing routes in the world, including two 9b+ (5.15c) routes, three 9b (5.15b) routes, and several boulders with a boulder 8C (V15) rating.
Maurizio "Manolo" Zanolla is an Italian rock climber and mountaineer, and a pioneer of sport climbing in Italy during the 1980s and 1990s.
Patxi Usobiaga Lakunza, best known as Patxi Usobiaga, is a Spanish professional rock climber, sports climber and boulderer. He is known for winning two Lead Climbing World Cups in a row, and for being the first-ever climber in history to onsight an 8c+ (5.14c) route.
Silence, is a 45-metre (148 ft) overhanging sport climbing route in the granite Hanshelleren Cave, in Flatanger, Norway. When Czech climber Adam Ondra made the first free ascent on 3 September 2017, it became the first rock climb in the world to have a proposed climbing grade of 9c (5.15d), and it is an important route in rock climbing history. To complete the route, Ondra undertook specialist physical and mental training to overcome its severely overhanging terrain.
Hubble is a short 10-metre (33 ft) bolted sport climb at the limestone Raven Tor crag in Dovedale, in the Peak District in Derbyshire, England. When Hubble was first redpointed by English climber Ben Moon on 14 June 1990, it became the first-ever climb in the world to have a consensus climbing grade of 8c+ (5.14c); and the highest grade in the English system at E9 7b.
Hamish McArthur is an English professional rock climber and competition climber, who specializies in competition bouldering and competition lead climbing events.
Century Crack is a 120ft (40m) long offwidth crack climb in the White Rim Sandstone, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, graded at 5.14b (8c). It is one of the hardest and longest offwidth crack climbs in the world. The first aid ascent of the route was done by Steve Bartlett in 2001, and the first free ascents were by crack specialists Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, known as the Wide Boyz.
Cobra Crack is a 45-metre (148 ft) long traditional climbing route on a thin crack up an overhanging granite rock face on Stawamus Chief, in Squamish, British Columbia. The route was first ascended by Peter Croft and Tami Knight in 1981 as an aid climb. After rebuffing many attempts by leading climbers – most notably by Swiss crack climber Didier Berthod in 2005 – Canadian climber Sonnie Trotter made the first free ascent in 2006. With subsequent ascents, the consensus grade has settled at 5.14b (8c) which ranked Cobra Crack as one of the hardest crack climbs in the world, and almost two decades later, it is still considered one of the world's hardest traditional climbing routes.
Tom Randall is a British professional rock climber, climbing coach, and business owner. Randall and his climbing partner Pete Whittaker, known as the Wide Boyz, are some of the best crack climbers in the world, known for their the first free ascent of Century Crack 5.14b (8c) in 2011. They also produce crack climbing media content, and equipment such as crack volumes for indoor crack climbing training.
References
- ↑ "Mari Salvesen flashes Belly Full of Bad Berries, notorious off-width at Indian Creek, USA". PlanetMountain.com.
- ↑ "Century Crack, the hardest offwidth in the world?". PlanetMountain.com.
- ↑ "Wideboyz Climb Century Crack Placing Gear". www.ukclimbing.com.
- ↑ "2016 Golden Pitons: Vision Award". Climbing (magazine) . Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ↑ "Freerider flashed by Pete Whittaker". 20 October 2014.
- ↑ "Pete Whittaker rope solos El Cap's Freerider all free in a day - Alpinist.com". www.alpinist.com.
- ↑ Walsh, Anthony (1 December 2021). "Wide Boyz Tackle The Great Rift (5.13) Roof Crack Under 2,500-foot Cement Bridge".
- ↑ "Pete Whittaker on Crown Royale, 9a". www.ukclimbing.com.
- ↑ "Pete Whittaker makes first ascent ascent of trad project Crown Royale". www.ukclimbing.com.
- ↑ "NEWS: Third Ascent of Recovery Drink by Pete Whittaker". www.ukclimbing.com.
- ↑ "Kaabah 8c+ for Whittaker and Walker". www.ukclimbing.com.
- ↑ "Climbing The World's Hardest Crack Boulder (Kraken 8B)". Wide Boyz. 24 July 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ↑ "Wide Boyz, 2012". Letterboxd . Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ↑ "WideWide Boyz II – Slender Gentlemen, 2014". Letterboxd . Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ↑ "Bridge Boys, 2022". Letterboxd . Retrieved 17 October 2023.