Rock Climber Makes His 100th First Ascent
Jim Pope completed the milestone climb on a boulder that looks like a famous piece of art in America
British climber Jim Pope has made his 100th first ascent with his send of Cloud Gate at Cratcliffe Tor. “I named it Cloud Gate after the reflective bean shaped sculpture in Chicago. It’s such a nice piece of rock it really is like a sculpture, and it’s hard to do it justice without standing beneath.”
Pope is one of the U.K.’s best all-round climbers with several E9 first ascents, such as Polar Front and Kinder Scout, and several hard repeats to his name, such as Appointment with Death and The Zone at Curbar.
In March, Pope made the third ascent of the U.K. trad route Dynamics of Change, an E9 7a at Burbage South in England. First climbed by Pete Whittaker in 2008, it has a notoriously high left heel hook – check it out here.
Other big first ascents that have gone down in the past few weeks, include Nina Williams new V9 highball in Bishop – read about it here, and Jake Tiger’s new V9 highball in Squamish – read about it here.
Jim Pope Bouldering 2025
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