Ben Moon (born 13 June 1966), is a

rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Moon, along with climbing partner

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 ...

moved forward the level of

sport climbing Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors to ...

, both in the UK and internationally. He was the first person to climb a consensus route at the

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also ref ...

of , by freeing '' Hubble''.

Climbing career

Moon's first officially declared routes had somewhat controversial names. The routes were both in France and had been previously attempted for a long time by local climbers. After climbing them Moon named them after French military disasters, first the

Maginot Line The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...

, at

Volx Volx (; oc, Vòus) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Population See also * Coteaux de Pierrevert AOC * Luberon The Luberon ( or ; Provençal: ''Lebe ...

, and secondly Agincourt, at

Buoux Buoux ju̟ːksis a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Located on the north side of the Luberon, the town is known for the high cliffs that surround it, making it a popular venue f ...

. On 8 June 2015, Moon redpointed the

Steve McClure Steve McClure (born 25 July 1970) is a British rock climber and climbing author, who is widely regarded as Britain's leading and most important sport climber for a period that extends for over two decades, starting from the late 1990s. In 2017, h ...

route ''Rainshadow'', , at

Malham Cove Malham Cove is a large curved limestone formation north of the village of Malham, North Yorkshire, England. It was formed by a waterfall carrying meltwater from glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age more than 12,000 years ago. Today it is a w ...

in North Yorkshire, England.

Business ventures

In 2002, Moon founded his climbing clothing and equipment company, Moon Climbing, after splitting from his previous company, S7. One of Moon Climbing's most popular products is the MoonBoard, an overhanging

climbing wall A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet, usually used for indoor climbing, but sometimes located outdoors. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most often used i ...

used to train dynamic climbing.

Notable ascents

* ''Statement of Youth'' , Lower Pen Trwyn (UK), first ascent (1984) * '' Hubble'' , Raven Tor (UK), first ascent (1990) * ''Voyager (low start)'' , Burbage (UK), first ascent (2006) * ''Rainshadow'' ,

(UK), repeat ascent (2015)

Filmography

* ''One Summer, Bouldering In The Peak'' (1994) * ''The Real Thing'' (1996) * ''

Hard Grit ''Hard Grit'' is a 1998 British rock climbing film directed by Richard Heap and produced by Slackjaw Film, featuring traditional climbing, free soloing, and bouldering on gritstone routes in the Peak District in the North of England. It is consi ...

'' (1998) * ''Stick it'' (2001) * ''Stone Love'' (2001) * ''Winter Sessions'' (2006)

Bibliography

References

External links

*
IFSC Profile
British rock climbers 1966 births Living people {{UK-climbing-bio-stub