Jerry Moffatt

Jerry Moffatt (born 18 March 1963), is a British rock climber and climbing author who is widely considered as being the best British rock climber from the early-1980s to the early-1990s, and was arguably the best rock climber in the world in the mid-1980s, and an important climber in the history of the sport.

As a sport climber, Moffatt was one of the first climbers in history to onsight routes of grade, , and , and also the first in history to climb routes of grade , and probably.

As a competition climber, Moffatt won several of the nascent tour events, and retired ranked first in the world.

As a boulder climber, Moffatt was one of the first-ever to solve problems of boulder grade, and.

On leaving school in 1980, aged 17, Moffatt began to immediately attract attention in the British rock climbing media with repeat ascents of some of the hardest British traditional climbing routes, most notably Ron Fawcett's Strawberries (E7 6b).

On retiring, he was voted most prolific competition climber 1980s in the French climbing magazine Vertical.

Aged 18, and living in an abandoned shed at Stoney Middleton crag, Moffatt started to establish his own test-pieces such as Little Plum (E6 6c, in 1981–82), one of the hardest British sport climbing routes that had repelled all attempts to free it, and one of the first British sport routes.

In 1982, aged 19, Moffatt travelled to the United States, where he repeated America's hardest routes, and did the world's first-ever flash of a with Super Crack in Shawangunks, and Equinox in Joshua Tree.

As a traditional climber, Moffatt established some of the most intimidating routes at the time in Britain, which are still rarely repeated, and in particular, the Master's Wall (E7 6b) in 1983.

Moffatt was noted for the intensity of his training, and the co-development of training techniques now considered mainstream in professional climbing.

Moffatt described Fawcett as a "massive legend", but that "by 1983, I was pretty sure I was climbing better than him in terms of difficulty. I looked up to him though and we never had any problems".

In 1983, on returning home, Moffatt established his most dangerous traditional climbing route, Master's Wall (E7 6b) at Clogwyn Du'r Arddu.

In a later interview, Moffatt said, "At that time to be respected, you really had to be putting up really scary new routes. That was where it was at, in Britain at least. Master's Wall is probably where I risked most".

Later that summer, Moffatt focused on sport climbing, establishing Masterclass at Pen Trwyn, the first British route.

In September 1983, Moffatt travelled to Germany where he did the world's second-ever onsight of a with Heisse Finger, and then went on to climb the world's first-ever sport climb at, The Face, in Altmühl.

In 1983, Moffatt was particularly active in pushing his limits, soloing Scarab (E6 6b) at Stoney Middleton, Right Wall (E5 6a) at Dinas Cromlech, and days before he climbed Master's Wall at Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, free soloing the neighboring Great Wall (E4 6a), The Boldest (E4 5c), and Curving Arete (E4 5c).

In 1984, on his 21st birthday, Moffatt flashed Chimpanzodrome at Saussois, and then did the world's first onsight of a with Pol Pot at Verdon.

Later in 1984, Moffatt freed Revelations at Ravens Tor in the Peak District, Britain's first route.

In June 1985, Moffatt did the first free ascent of the Yosemite's Lost Arrow Spire with Ron Kauk, as a live television event with an audience of over 30 million for ABC's Wide World of Sports.

During 1985 to late 1986, Moffatt was largely out with a compressed nerve injury (initially mis-diagnosed as tendonitis), that required surgery and rehabilitation.

On returning in 1987, Moffatt spent the next two years repeating the three hardest routes in France (Le Rage de Vivre, Le Minumum, La Spectre des Surmutant in Buoux), and in the United States (Scarface, White Wedding, To Bolt Or Not To Be in Smith Rocks), while also creating his own 8b+ route, Stone Love in the Frankenjura in Germany.

The book that Moffatt was referring to was With Winning in Mind (1988), by American Olympian, Lanny Bassham.

In 1988, he solved Superman at Cressbrook, one of the first-ever boulder problems in the world.

In 1989 and 1990, Moffatt concentrated on the emerging sport of competition climbing, winning ten international events over two years, and never finishing worse than fifth in any competition he entered.

He won the first-ever UIAA Climbing World Cup Grand Prix event that was held in 1989 in Leeds, and finished third overall, in the inaugural 1989 IFSC Climbing World Cup that concluded in Lyon.

In May 1990, he returned to Pen Trwyn in Wales to create Liquid Ambar, Britain's first route, and which has been regraded to, which would make it the world's first 8c+.

In September 1990, aged 27, Moffatt retired from competition climbing and at that time was rated first on the Association of Sport Climbers International (ASCI) rankings.

In 1991, Moffatt opened Britain's first indoor climbing centre, "The Foundry" in Sheffield.

He has written books on mental preparation for competition climbing.

In 1991, Moffatt traveled to Yosemite and at Camp 4 solved Sick It at, and The Force at , two of the hardest in America at that time.

Moffatt continued to travel widely, repeating Punks In The Gym in 1992 in Australia, establishing Canada's first, The Big Kahuua, in 1993 in Ontario, and freeing routes such as Evolution in 1995 at Ravens Tor.

He returned to Yosemite in 1993, and added The Dominator at, considered one of the first-ever boulders ever climbed.

In 1996, Moffatt and climbing partner Ben Moon, featured in a film by Simon Tucker called The Real Thing, which is considered an important early film in the bouldering film genre, and featured the novel training techniques they were using (i.e. campus board-type installations) that are now mainstream.

In 1997, he climbed the 12-metre high Samson (E8 7b) at Burbage South, while technically the hardest gritstone route at that time, with boulder pads is now a highball bouldering problem at.

The pair would feature in other bouldering films, including Stick It (2001), and Stone Love (2001).

In 2002, on Stanage Edge in the Peak District Moffatt solved the long-term boulder problem The Ace at, the hardest boulder problem in Britain at the time, and effectively Moffat's last major new route.

In a 2009 interview, Moffatt noted that his initial competition form was poor until he began to study the mental side of competing, saying, "I found out how your mind works under pressure and immediately after reading that book I competed in Leeds and won my first competition".

In his 2009 autobiography he said of his retirement, "I no longer had energy the energy to keep it all up. I wanted to get myself back again. I wanted to see my friends. I wanted to climb for myself. I wanted to do first ascents. Most of all I wanted to have fun".

Moffatt had been an early adopter of bouldering from the outset of his career, saying in a 2009 interview, "My early boulder problems weren't publicized, no one seemed to be interested in them at all".

Moffatt is also known for his free soloing of challenging British traditional climbing routes, telling The Guardian in 2011, "You have to have an insane confidence in your own ability to go soloing".