Simon Nadin (born 10 July 1965) is a British

rock climber Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in guidebooks, and ...

and professional photographer, who won the first ever

IFSC Climbing World Cup The IFSC Climbing World Cup is a series of competition climbing events held during the year at various locations around the world, organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). At each event, the athletes compete in three d ...

in 1989.

Climbing

Nadin was a climbing all-rounder and pioneered routes which set new levels in climbing. He started climbing on

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

outcrops, such as

The Roaches The Roaches (from the French ''les roches'' – the rocks) is a prominent rocky ridge above Leek and Tittesworth Reservoir in the Staffordshire Peak District of England. The ridge with its rock formations rises steeply to . Along with Ramsha ...

, near his home in

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

and using

nuts Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed * Nut (food), a dry and edible fruit or seed, including but not limited to true nuts * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut, NUT or Nuts may also refer to: A ...

made in his school

metalwork Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...

lessons. Within a year of starting climbing he was climbing at E6 level and in later years frequently onsight-

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

ed E4, E5 or harder routes. In 1989, having only been a professional climber for six months, he became the first

champion, beating Didier Raboutou at the final round in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, with an audience of 8000 people (

Jerry Moffatt Jerry Moffatt (born 18 March 1963), is a British rock climber and climbing author who is widely considered as being the best British rock climber from the early-1980s to the early-1990s, and was arguably the best rock climber in the world in the ...

finished 3rd). He also came first in that round of the World Cup winning £3000 for this. Nadin was nearly disqualified twice for late arrival due to not seeing instructions put up in the official hotel, as the UK team was staying in a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

. Later in 1989, he unsuccessfully attempted to free climb ''The Nose'' on

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

with

Lynn Hill Carolynn Marie Hill (born January 3, 1961) is an American rock climber. Widely regarded as one of the leading competition climbers, traditional climbers (and particularly big wall climbers), sport climbers, and boulderers in the world during ...

. Nadin's training methods were unusual, training 'heavy' in the winter, but still able to complete difficult ascents having not climbed for a period of time.

Media

He appeared in series 3 of

Coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

climbing The Old Man of Hoy with

Neil Oliver Neil Oliver (born 21 February 1967) is a Scottish television presenter, author, and conspiracy theorist. He has presented several documentary series on archaeology and history, including '' A History of Scotland'', ''Vikings'' and ''Coast''. H ...

and

Andy Cave Andy Cave (born 1966) is a British mountaineer, mountain guide, and motivational speaker. He was nominated for the Piolet d'Or for his first ascent of the North Face of Changabang in 1997, and won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Litera ...

Selected climbs

*''Barriers in Time'' -

*''Thing on a Spring'' - The Roaches *''Paralogism'' - The Roaches *''Painted Rumour'' - The Roaches *''Dangerous Crocodile Snogging'' - Ramshaw Rocks, Staffordshire *''Never Never Land'' - Ramshaw, Staffordshire *''Master of Reality'' - Hen Cloud, Staffordshire *''B4XS'' - Hen Cloud, Staffordshire *''Inaccessible'' - Ina's Rock, Churnet Valley *''Menopause'' - 6b (solo) -

Stoney Middleton Stoney Middleton is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. It is in the White Peak area of the Peak District southeast of Eyam and northwest of Calver, on the A623 road at the foot of the limesto ...

References

External links

Simon Nadin on Flickr

Simon Nadin
''Climbing-History.org'' Page (January 2022) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nadin, Simon British rock climbers 1965 births Living people Sportspeople from Derbyshire IFSC Climbing World Cup overall medalists British competition climbers

Climbing

Media

Selected climbs

See also

References

External links