James McHaffie

James, brought up in Borrowdale - one of the key climbing valleys of the Lakes - is widely regarded as Britiain's top all round rock climber, and is able to perform at a world class level in almost all styles of climbing. His ascents or attempts at some of the most iconic climbs on the planet, and his almost limitless UK traditional ticklist, juxtaposed with his understated and humble manner have resonated with the British climbing community and placed him in a short list of all time greats.

James 'Caff' McHaffie, born on January 15th 1981, developed his love of soloing early in his climbing career, and a wild period in the late 90's and 00's saw him clocking up hundreds of solo ascents across the UK as well as countless desperate and bold onsights of roped climbs. He has wound back a little on the soloing as the years have gone by, saying that his confidence isn't quite what it used to be. Where his confidence might have dropped (and by any normal climber's standard, he is supremely confident), his physical ability has sky-rocketed. Realising that his physical strength was the limiting factor in his climbing, James set about rebuilding his body a few years ago, and after climbing two sport routes of 9a, has taken that level of traditional skill and sport strength to quickly dispatch hard routes with minimum fuss, such as The Long Hope Route on Hoy and Salathe Wall in Yosemite.

by Jack Geldard - UKC Chief Editor