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 . 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. In 1991, Moffatt opened Britain's first indoor climbing centre, "The Foundry" in Sheffield. He has written books on mental preparation for competition climbing.

Climbing career

Routes

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). 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". Aged 18, and living in an abandoned shed at Stoney Middleton crag, Moffatt began to establish his own test-pieces such as ''Little Plumb'' (E6 6c, in 1981–82), considered one of the technically hardest British sport climbing routes at the time 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. In 1983, on returning home, Moffatt established his most dangerous traditional climbing route, ''Masters 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