Ben Read
Climbing History
I have been climbing now since I was 16 and have tried to pack as much into those years as I can. Climbing, as with many people has taken over my life and pretty much controls most of my decisions, whether that is holidays, jobs, friends the list goes on but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My main passion is for bouldering and sport as to me I enjoy the physical challenge that climbing presents rather than the mental side of it.
I also take part in many competitions during the winter months when the weather prevents me from getting outside. I enjoy the competitive side of climbing as long as no one takes it too seriously as climbing can only be fun if the people around you are having a good time as well.
Ben on his own creation Jumando highball font 7c+....gulp!!
My real interest in climbing though lies with the Southern Sandstone in Kent and West Sussex. I started climbing on these crags soon after I got into climbing properly and to start with, I was like most and was not very impressed. The soft nature of the rock means that leading is not allowed on the rock and that you are only allowed to top rope. Obviously this brings with it many restrictions that make it hard to push yourself fully. I then started looking elsewhere for my rock climbing fixes and soon forgot about the sandstone.
Then as my climbing progressed and I discovered bouldering this again opened up the sandstone to me and I soon started exploring the many outcrops for bouldering opportunities. There had been a fair amount of bouldering on the crags developed all ready but there were still some very obvious gaps. I started putting some time into these lines and several started to fall. This has now become my main focus and I am still finding new projects to work. I also started to write the Southern Sandstones first bouldering guide to help document all the great boulder problems that these southerly crags have to offer.
The Southern sandstone gets a bad rep but it actually has some amazing lines and lots of things for the future. I am working quite hard to improve the image of southern sandstone climbing and show that down south isn’t all bad!
What motivates me to climb?
What motivates me to climb is the challenge of working out a route. I love hunting for new routes and working out how to climb then especially when it hasn’t been done before, because when you do figure them out it is so much more rewarding than just repeating other people’s routes.
Favourite Routes
Eclipse, Font 7C – A great line that requires equal amounts of power, balance and technique. This was to me my first hard route where I actually had to put quite a lot in to complete it.
Jude’s wall, English 6C – This was my first proper new route that I put up and what gave me a taste for doing new routes. A great line that had been tried by many in the past that was just sitting there waiting to be done.
The Read Line Font 7C+/8A – A long standing project of mine that finally went last year. I had tried it on and off for a while and finally got stuck in and managed to pull my way through the crux and get it done. It’s a great obvious traverse route that has some unusual climbing among it. The grade is still yet to be confirmed as it has not had a successful 2nd ascent but those who have tried and failed reckon this is about right.
Judamondo 7C+ (Highball) - This route took me longer than any other route to climb. Finally climbed it on 12/3/2010 and was so happy to have completed it. It has been a long standing project of the sandstone and mine. Not to sure on the grade as need to wait for some repeats.
Aspirations
There are several lines down on the Sandstone that I want to repeat such as Chimera and Poppet’s Persistence. I also have a few really hard projects down there as well that are well above anything I have done so far, but most of all I just want to continue having fun and climbing as much as I can, just like everybody else!
And another thing….I am actually missing my deltoid muscle in my right arm. Fell out of a tree when I was 5 or 6 and caught a branch on the way down. Some how this managed to rip my muscle and it never developed. This has left me with a gap in my arm that does look a bit freaky! Because it happened when I was so young my other muscles learnt to adapt and I am Ok on most moves but do have a bit of a weakness for right Gaston’s and Mantelshelf’s which does make climbing in Font somewhat interesting when I get to the top!
22nd Feb 2012 Wild Country UK Climbing Team 2012 Unveiled
Wild Country are proud to unveil their 2012 UK climbing team - a group of reckless and hardy individuals who help us test and promote our gear whatever the danger and cost to themselves...! Well, it’s not exactly like that, but, led by James 
Pearson, the Wild Country climbing team is peopled with climbers that we feel help represent the values and ideals of Wild Country across the spectrum of the sport.
So, leading the way with a slew of hard ascents in 2011, from almost flashing E10 to multi-pitch monstrosities like Joy Division and flashing 8b+ is James Pearson, now living in France but originally a Buxton lad and working with Wild Country since 2004. There’s a superb video of James in action on his E10 flash attempt here - http://vimeo.com/25140891.
James Pearson seen here on his flash attempt on Muy Caliente E10
Hot on his heels are the incredibly talented ‘Wideboyz’ team of Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker, who as well as tackling the worlds hardest offwidths – and the first ascent of Century Crack E9 (as you may just have heard about) have produced a load of awesome grit routes in the past few years filling some very cool gaps on the Peak District edges – you can see some Century Crack footage here - http://vimeo.com/35270800. Sheffield based there’s also Ben Heason who’s been working with Wild Country for years and is still sending 8b+ and E8, and the enigmatic Miles Gibson – the quiet man of the legendary super-desperates ‘Superstition’ and Superbloc’ on the gritstone. Also Peak based the youthful Hamer brothers have both been performing superbly in 2011: Ed probably outdoing his brother Sam with his fantastic results in the youth world cup climbing comps with a couple of 2nd places – but Sam showing he’s no slouch winding his neck out with few E8’s on the grit to even the scales – see the Hamers’ in action here - http://vimeo.com/26593785.
Last, but not least, long term teamer, Katherine Schirrmacher is hoping to build on her hard trad and grit E7 ascents after a year out to have a baby and build a very successful guiding business and will be starring in and sharing her technical knowledge in Wild Country’s ‘how to’ video series later this year.
Then up in Lancs the super psyched Jordan Buys is joined this year by his wife and partner Naomi to make an all action team. Both are multi discipline masters, mixing bouldering, trad climbing and sports climbing to a very high standard Jordan to 8c and E9 and Naomi to 8a+ and E7. See Jordan in action here: http://vimeo.com/34862987
Over in Yorkshire, Jenny Woodward, has an incredible resume and after a bit of a stop start year last year after having a baby and suffering a few injuries and only sending up to 8A+(!!!) has some even harder projects on the go...watch this space!
Further north, in the Lake District, Dave Birkett and Adam Hocking are both climbing at the highest level and still doing stunning new trad lines and bouldering at the highest level – there’s a great video of Adam on a new E8 here – http://vimeo.com/25808567
New team member Naomi Buys in action on Snap Decision E7 6C Ilkley...
Meanwhile in Scotland the evergreen Malcolm Smith of has been relentless on rock with a recent new 8c+ Blood Diamond, while the fearless Kev Shields simply sets new standards for his bold soloing and some great winter ascents. And across the ‘pond’ in Ireland Andy Marshall has been representing Wild Country and has also sent some pretty rad lines including E8 2nd ascents and plenty more.
Our boulder team (thought that terms a bit restrictive as they’re more than that) is headed up by the amazing Ned Fehally who seems to be taking bouldering up a notch as well as blurring the lines between highball and routes making some very hard ascents in 2011 including Samson E8 7a, and the Prow E9 7a both solo. See Ned in action here: http://vimeo.com/33103583. Nigel Callender also manages to continually impress, sending 8b+ - http://vimeo.com/20435941 - while studying to be a doctor in Newcastle and taking advantage of the awesome sandstone of Northumberland. Then in the south east the strong Ben Read is helping establish a new wave of sandstone desperates as well as writing guidebooks and promoting the excellent climbing around there. Joining these guys this year is year is Stewart Watson, a very strong climber who’s been competing internationally in boulder comps for a number of years and is adding 8c ascents to his pretty awesome bouldering CV.
We also have some young climbers doing well and with Tara Hayes we have one the most up and coming of the UK junior competition climbers who in her first year managed to grab an overall 6th place in the European Youth B standings.
So a big thanks to all those I’ve mentioned and anyone else who’s been flying the Wild Country flag - and you can see more about all Wild Country’s UK team at our website here:
And to get any news from the team first and fastest you can follow Wild Country on:
Twitter - @wildcountryuk
On our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Country/97486098594
Or to watch all our videos our Vimeo page is here: http://vimeo.com/wildcountry/videos
Here's young gun Ed Hamer doing what he does best - climbing very very well on something that's very very steep!!!!!!
