Team Member - Ted Kingsnorth

Tell us about your successes so far?

My 3 hardest sport routes are:

1. Progress 8c+ at Kilnsey in 2021

2. Just Do It 8c+ on the Monkey Face at Smith Rock, Oregon, USA in 2018 (the 1st British ascent)

3. Kabaah 8c+ at Raven Tor in 2014

I have climbed a number of the classic routes on Yorkshire limestone:

Kilnsey - Northern Exposure (Part 1) 8b+ in 2021The Yorkshire Ripper 8b in 2021 - Dalliance 8b+ in 2018 - True North 8c in 2017 Malham - Victor Hugo 8b in 2021 - Power Ranger 8b+ in 2020 - Something for Nothing 8c in 2017 - Cry Freedom 8b+ Bat Route 8b+, Overjustified (all 8b+) in 2014 - The Austrian Oak 8a+ in 2009 (1st redpoint in under 2 hours)

In the Peak, I climbed Haaj 8c at Raven Tor, the left-hand extension to Mecca, in 2015 and Mecca Extension 8c in 2013. I climbed Zeke the Freak 8b at Rubicon in 2009 on my 1st redpoint (in under 2 hours).

I also climbed the classic To Bolt or Not to Be 8b+ in 2014 at Smith Rock, Oregon. My best flash is Caminito pal cielo 8a+ at Sector Cabernet in Margalef in 2020 and the Dangerous Brothers 8a at Rubicon in the Peak District in 2009.

I have onsighted Times Up 8a in Smith Rock in 2014 and Defcon 3 7c+ in Goredale in 2021. Bouldering, my hardest ticks are Drink Driving V12 on Pill Box Wall on the Orme and Enter the Dragon V12 at Tremerchion in 2017.

In 2021, I climbed several V11’s in the Lancashire Quarries, including the second ascent of Mad Man’s Monologue V11 in Wilton 1. On trad, my best achievements are onsighting Bastille E6 at High Tor in 2009 with Ben Heason and an onsight of the 12 pitch Attraverso Il Pesco (or The Fish) 7b+ on the south face of Marmolada in the Dolomites, also in 2009.

What are you working on? What are your goals for the future?

I am currently working on Sabotage 8c+, the extension to Predator, a classic 8b wall climb at Malham. In the Peak, I am trying Devolution 8c at Raven Tor, which I have been trying since 2014.

I have aspirations to climb more hard sport projects in both the Yorkshire Dales and the Peak and push my grade as far as I can. I also want to climb more in the onsight style both in the UK and abroad, which I haven’t done as much as I would have liked to so far, due to most of my time going into projecting.

Why do you climb? What do you love about climbing?

I love the uncertainty of the outcome before you set off on any climb, success is in the balance and you have to give it your all in order to achieve success. It won’t be handed to you on a plate!

Which Scarpa shoe is your favourite?

Instinct VS’s are my go-to shoe for all technical limestone sport route and boulder problems. I have been wearing these excellent boots since 2014 and find them second to none in being able to cope with the smallest of edges or smears with the utmost precision.

The generous coating of rubber over the toe box is a big help with toe hooking whilst bouldering. When bouldering indoors, I like the sensitivity offered by the brilliant Instinct VSR’s

Tell us about your best day climbing?

My best day was succeeding on my long-term project, Just Do It 8c+ at Smith Rock in 2018.

I had been trying it since 2015 and had made 6 trips across the Atlantic in order to try it. I had done some pretty focussed training to be in the right shape for it the preceding winter after falling off the upper crux many times. I sent it in early June, just in time as temperatures were warming up rapidly with the onset of summer!

My redpoint just before dusk went smoothly after waiting the whole day for temperatures to drop and I was made up to clip the chains and finally be able to book my flight home after 6 weeks staying out in Oregon that trip. The party in Bend the next day was also memorable, some tasty IPA beers were consumed and it was brilliant to chat and hang out with local climbers – the local scene at Smith is fantastic.

What do you do away from your sport?

I was a property solicitor and conveyancer up until 2018 but as I got more and more into climbing I decided to change careers and become a geography teacher. I went back to Uni in 2018 and got my PGCE in 2020 and am currently still trying to secure my first teaching position.

Where is your #NoPlacetooFar?

In the future, I would like to get back into multi-pitch Alpine trad climbing so it would have to be the south face of the Marmolada in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, a magnificent 800m high limestone cliff. I would like to return to this face and do some of the classic routes there after getting a taste for it on my ascent of the Fish in 2009 with Ben Heason.