Born in London, Jacob now lives in Squamish, Canada and has been climbing for more than 30 years. Jacob grew up competing on the comp circuit, before finding adventure climbing in his early 20s. He has reached a high level across many different disciplines but his true passion is for hard, technical free climbing on the world’s biggest walls.
In 2022 along with his wife Bronwyn and four friends he completed a 65 day sea-kayaking and climbing expedition to the West coast of Greenland. After a 40 day journey just to reach the wall, the team made the first free ascent of Quaersorsuaq via a new route Sea-Barge Circus (5.11+ 1000m). On the final push the team spent ten days on the wall, including four days confined to the portaledges during a storm.
In recent years Jacobs primary focus has been on ultra-endurance climbing challenges in Yosemite, Patagonia and beyond. In December 2024 Jacob completed an 8 year dream to free climb the 38-pitch Golden Gate on El Capitan in under 24 hours.
The following season, along with his climbing partner Brant Hysell he completed the Yosemite Triple, linking up the three biggest walls in the Valley (El Capitan, Half Dome and Mount Watkins) within 24 hours.
Jacob has climbed in Scarpa shoes for more than 15 years, his favourite model is the Generator, which combines the stiffness and precision necessary for extreme, technical, vertical granite. He first tested the Generator low top on the First Free ascent of Picaflor (13d/8b, 1000m) in Cochamo Valley in 2024 and they have become his go to shoe for Big Wall climbing ever since.
