Steve McClure
Height: |
169cm |
|---|---|
Ape index: |
0 |
Born: |
Saltburn, UK |
Current Location: |
Sheffield |
Been climbing for: |
40 years |
Fav 5:10 Shoe: |
Anasazi Blanco |
Memorable Climbing Moment: |
Hitting the chain at the top of Hubble |
Climbing Heroes: |
Dawes |
Loves: |
Chocolate |
Hates: |
Traffic in Britain |
Fav Book: |
Johnny's book when it comes out! |
Fav Music: |
Psy Trance, in the right frame of mind |
Fav Climb: |
Left Wall |
Other Hobbies: |
Mountain Biking |
Occupation: |
Route setter / lecturer / writer / coach / bum |
Website: |
About me
Steve McClure is one of the best rock-climbers in the world, having climbed numerous new routes at the grade of 9a, and onsighted up to 8b+. Despite being better known for his sport climbing achievements, you might also find him wiggling in wires in Pembroke or sleeping in a portaledge on a 1000m wall in Greenland.
Brought up in Cleveland near to the North York Moors, and with both parents keen climbers there was no escape from the sport. Climbing from the moment he could walk his first extreme was at 11, his first E3 at 13 and first E5 onsight at 16. University was less climbing intensive where he managed to achieve a 2.1 in mechanical engineering and a 1st in partying!
In 2001 he quit his engineering job of seven years to persue the life of a professional climber! ‘Will it work out! I’ll tell you when I’m 40!’
Steve's Blog
9th Sep 2011 A week down the dale
pic - dreadnaught in 1999
A certain Climbing wall cancelled me last minute leaving me out of pocket but richer in terms of time. The place to be at the moment in the Peak is The Cornice. It is completely dry, and misses any sunshine so is in great condition. Over the last month it’s been all action down the dale! I had a week free to sample the delights.
Kristian Clemmow is the dude down there. Responsible for much cleaning and bolting and many new routes. He has upped the overall quality of the crag! His routes have seen a load of attention. ‘Brick Top’, at 8b, is a burly monster, all good holds but far apart. This one was tough for me! Then ‘32’, a bouldery 8b+ that has seen some epic attempts and thought solid for the grade with a Font 7c+ crux! I got to within a move on-sight, which might just have been one of my best performances ever, but never mind. It went next go.
‘Dreadnaught’ has seen some attention. I made the first ascent of this 8c about 13 years ago and it’s still holding out for a second ascent. Apparently holds had come off, but for those interested, all the ones I used are still there, so the challenge stands!
Kristian can spy a good line. And the route ‘K3’ looks like it should just keep traversing leftwards where it inevitably heads on upwards, like routes generally do. So Kris set about linking between neighbouring routes to join the start of ‘K3’ to the end of ‘Powerplant’ to give ‘K5’ (K5 is higher than K3). It looked awesome. I pumped my arms to the max on the flash of this 8b, but it looked like this diagonal line should go further, in fact why not all the way? So yesterday I climbed the first moves of ‘K3’ into the last move of ‘Bored of The Lies’. A mega endurance route with a considerable amount of new climbing, this is not a link up of existing lines. ‘K2’ because it’s the highest ‘K’. 8b+ probably, maybe harder. But don’t try it on a busy day……..
Some mountain info
K2 is 8611 2nd
K5 is now known as Gasherbrum I (8068 11th).
K3 is addressed as Broad Peak (8047 12th)
K4 is called Gasherbrum II (8035 13th).
Contributed by: Steve McClure
