2014 In Pictures

2014 was an amazing year for me, I've had the opportunity to go on some incredible trips around the world and it's cemented in my mind that I want to base my life around climbing and the adventures that come with it. Below are 12 of my favorite photos from the past year roughly in the order that they happened:

1. Cross country skiing on the frozen lake Temagami, Ontario, Canada. We skied for two days and slept in a snow cave called a quincy, by far the coldest temperatures I've ever experienced. It was great to do something completely different and learn some new skills to use in the outdoors.

2. A pleasant evening solo in Meteora, Greece. Climbing on the conglomerate towers was adventurous with an average of about two bolts per pitch. We saw one other party of climbers during our entire ten day trip.

3. The first ascent of The Lizard King E9 7a at Ilkley. Photo courtesy of Mike Hutton: http://www.mikehuttonphotography.com/.

4. Climbing the Yosemite classic Astroman with a crazy French-Canadian named Alex. Here he is seconding high on the route.

5. Climbing The Nose on El Capitan, the most famous big wall route in the world. The route was so good that when I got down after 4 days on the wall, I had one rest day and climbed the whole thing again in 16 hours with none other than Danger Darren from Tasmania...

6. The Staffordshire Nose challenge, climbing all 31 Brown and Whillans routes in Staffordshire in a day. Crack of Gloom and Masochism stand out as highlights of the day that everybody should go and climb... This is The Sloth HVS, the last route of the day.

7. Attempting pitch 13 of El Topo in the Verdon Gorge, a knacky f8a slab in just about the most heroic position I've ever climbed in. We definitely felt like we had unfinished business with this route when we were heading home...

8. Leading Eurothing E8 6c in Stennis Ford, Pembroke. I had several sessions on Muy Caliente, another route on this wall but never quite got the correct combination of courage, conditions and fitness to go for the lead, another time maybe...

9. Back in the Verdon for round two... A Hawaiian portaledge party on our successful continuous free ascent of El Topo!

10. Deep water soloing in Mallorca, here's Bron on Calamares 6c at Cova Del Diablo. I love climbing *and* jumping off cliffs so deep water soloing is basically the perfect sport for me!

11. Aid-soloing Los Tres Techos A1 300m in El Chorro, Spain. Spending two days by myself in quite a wild situation was a great challenge, El Cap here I come.

12. Connection Lourdes 8a+ at Makinodromo, El Chorro. I've spent the last few months of 2014 living in El Chorro doing some work for the Olive Branch guesthouse in return for room and board. Climbing every day on the Spanish Limestone is like a dream come true.