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I started climbing in 1993 at Dumbarton Rock and spent three years working my way through most of the boulder problems here. By age 18 I was repeating the hardest established routes in Scotland and started to open new routes of my own. In 1998 I started studying Sport Science and getting an understanding of how to improve more quickly.

By 2002 I graduated from this and began to get established as an all-round climber, managing to break new grades in Scotland in all the climbing disciplines. Since finishing my sport science MSc I have been climbing much more and working as a writer, coach and lecturer, trying to push my all round climbing as far as it can go. I live in Lochaber with my wife Claire and my cat pusspuss.

These days I continue to climb at a world respected standard in as many climbing disciplines as I can, mostly climbing new routes. Right now you'll find me on Ben Nevis a lot.

Some of my best routes:

Echo Wall – Possibly the world's hardest trad route. F8c+ climbing with groundfall potential. situated high on the north face of Ben Nevis.
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Big Long Now Font 8b – Scotland’s hardest boulder problem. 50 metre endurance problem in Glen Nevis.
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Ring of Steall F8c+ – Scotland’s hardest sport route. Blog story here.
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Darwin Dixit F8c free solo – Possibly the hardest solo done in the world. Blog story here.
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Good Training For Something M12 - Joint first ascent with Will Gadd.
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Here are some more of my best routes. The links take you to my articles about them on my blog.

Winter

Don't Die of Ignorance XI,11 Ben Nevis. Ground-up 1st ascent, 2008
Defenders of the Faith IX,9 Beinn Dothaidh. Onsight 1st ascent, 2006
The Italian Job VIII, 9 Ben Nevis. Onsight 1st ascent 2006
The Cathedral X,11 The Cobbler 1st ascent 2004
Happy Tyroleans IX, 9 Cairngorm 2003

Trad

Rhapsody, E11 7a, Dumbarton Rock, 1st ascent 2006
To Hell and Back , E10 6c, Cairngorm, 1st ascent 2007
Trauma, E8 7a, Llanberis 2007
Divided Years, E8 6c, Mourne Mountains, 3rd ascent 2006
Breathless E8 6c, Lake District, 3rd ascent 2005
Achemine E9 7a, Dumbarton Rock, 1st ascent 2001
The Fugue E9 6c, Arrochar, Scotland, 1st ascent 2002
Holdfast E9 7a, Glen Nevis, Scotland, 1st ascent 2002

Sport

A Muerte 9a, Siurana 2007
Metalcore 8c+, The Anvil 2007
L'Odi Social 8c+, Siurana 2007
Hurlyburly F8b, Birnam Quarry, free-solo 2003
Vuite L'Art 8a+ onsight, Margalef 2007
Los Ultimo Vampiros Hippies 8c, Margalef, 2008
Body Swerve 8c, The Anvil, 1st ascent 2006  

Bouldering

Sanction Font 8b, Dumbarton 2007
Perfect Crime Font 8b, first ascent, Dumbarton 2005
Super Size Me Font 8b, second ascent, Dumbarton 2006

Dry tooling

Vertical Limit M11, Uschinen, Switzerland, 2004

Awards

Golden Piton award for trad climbing 2006