About | I was born and grew up in Snowdonia, North Wales. Mountains have always been a natural part of my life. Both my parents climbed back in the 60’s, and I have inherited their passion for adventurous travel - usually on a shoestring budget - to remote and challenging parts of the world. |  | Although I did very little actual rock climbing, with ropes and equipment, while I was growing up I had a somewhat unusually adventurous outdoor - orientated upbringing, walking the Annapurna circuit in the Himalayas when I was 4. I had climbed the highest mountains in Morocco, Greece and Thailand by age 13, and my 13th birthday present - a day climbing with local legend Eric Jones at Tremadog - was a crucial point in my climbing development, as was being a member of the Cliff Rescue Service for two years while studying at The United World College of The Atlantic. But it wasn’t until I joined Birmingham University Mountaineering Club in 1994 that I became properly hooked. Some may say obsessed... | 
(Crib Goch, Snowdonia - age 5) | | After graduating in 1996, with a BSc in Sports and Exercise Science, I moved to Sheffield - the undisputed centre of British climbing - and have lived here happily ever since. During that time I’ve travelled extensively and have climbed over 10,000 routes throughout the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Slovenia, Jordan, Egypt, Mali, Ethiopia, Morocco, South Africa, Norway, Greenland, Canada, USA, Mexico, Venezuela, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as visiting dozens of other countries. | | In the past few years I have been recognised as one of the UK’s most experienced climbing coaches, which has given me an invaluable and highly rewarding opportunity to help others to develop their own climbing skills. | | To be an accomplished all-round climber has always been important, but adventurous traditional climbing has been my over-riding priority. As my experience grew, my motivation shifted towards climbing new routes on big walls in remote parts of the world with successful big wall trips to Mali, Jordan, Italy, Morocco, Greenland, Ethiopia, Egypt, South Africa and Venezuela. | 
(walking the Annapurna Circuit - age 4) | | 
(Southern Sudan - age 3) | In 2005 I was a lead climber on an international team who made the much heralded first free-climbed ascent of the main wall of Angel Falls in Venezuela. As the highest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls stands at a colossal height of 979 meters (3230 feet), overhanging virtually throughout, and took us 20 days of continuous effort. Our ascent was described as 'one of the finest achievments by British climbers on foreign soil'. Not only have the physical and mental aspects of climbing been important to me, but equally engrossing have been the wonderfully diverse and often unique cultures I have been privileged to experience in my life. | Climbing Highlights |
