Robbie Phillips

It’s really no surprise that I am climber. As a kid I was climbing trees, buildings, and walls; anything that was vertical… that in turn drove my mum up the wall! I didn’t fit into the social norms of a typical Scottish kid and I had little direction or focus in my life before I discovered climbing; Climbing saved me as it has done countless others!

It just changed everything! For the next 12 years, I would spend nearly everyday going climbing, thinking about climbing and immersing myself in climbing!

In the early days it was mostly indoors and competitions in which I competed Internationally for Team GB. Following the competition circuit, I pursued outdoor sport climbing and learned all I could about how to climb in all styles on all rock types. In later years I have focussed more on traditional and big wall climbs with an intense desire to explore these disciplines as far as I can. Part of the beauty of climbing for me is that you can choose your challenge, adapt to any style, any situation and essentially create your own adventures!

The psychology of climbing is what really fascinates me though, the fact that performance is not just down to how hard you can pull but more so the ability to control your mind. “Will that foot stay?” is the question you ask yourself when you are 5m above your last runner and you're looking at a big fall. But it’s not blind faith that gets you safely from move to move; it is confidence built by the experience of putting yourself out there every single day.

I guess climbing means so many things to me and I love it for a lot of different reasons; but if I was to think logically and give a resounding answer to the ultimate question of why I choose to go climbing every single day of my life I’d probably say: "well I’ve got nothing better to do before I die, may as well climb a rock…"


-Hometown-

Edinburgh, Scotland

-Projects-

All-Rounder (Big Wall, Traditional, Sport, Bouldering, Winter Mixed) - I'm also a keen writer.

-Successes-

Passed my driving test first go (Onsight!)

-Favourite Scarpa-

I use all of them for different things, but if I had one to choose it would be "Instinct Lace"

-No Place too Far-

Antarctica - Because that place looks totally insane and there is some big walls there to climb!


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