James Pearson climbing The Quarryman in North Wales

The Quarryman has an awesome reputation. Perched high up in the slate quarries above Llanberis in North Wales, this 4-pitch outing was first ascended in 1986 by Johnny Dawes, one of the most influential climbers in Britain during the ’80’s and 90’s. It featured in the cult climbing film Stone Monkey, yet despite its fame, in its three decades of existence this E8 has only had a handful of repeats.

A necky and intimidating start leads to the unique groove pitch. Dawes told planetmountain.com in 2011 that that this "it requires you to climb very accurately while your body is under a full physical assualt. To succeed, you really need to master both its technicality and physicality."

After his ascent in 2011 Steve McClure explained that he had climbed 8c in shorter time and with less effort, while James Pearson repeated it in 2016 and stated that the style of climbing was unlike almost all other routes he’d climbed previously.

Here’s the story behind Pearson’s rare repeat, filmed by Neil Hart.



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Rock climbing in Wales - a choice selection
- Dinas Cromlech - some of the best extreme rock climbs in the entire UK.
- Cloggy - Clogwyn Du'r Arddu - the shrine of British rock climbing.
- Vivian Quarry - the most popular slate crag in Wales
- Rainbow Slab - arguably the jewel in the crown of Llanberis slate.
- Gogarth - one of the best sea cliffs in Britain. Fullstop.
- Lower Pen Trwyn - simply the best sport crag in North Wales.
- Huntsman's Leap - one of the most popular sea cliffs in Pembroke, South Wales.