Steve McClure, born 25 July 1970, is a British rock climber and climbing author, who is widely regarded as Britain's leading and most important sport climber for a period that extends for over two decades, starting from the late 1990s. In 2017, he created Rainman, Britain's first-ever 9b (5.15b) sport route, and by that stage was responsible for developing the majority of routes graded 9a (5.14d) and above in Britain. Although mainly known for sport climbing, McClure has also been one of the most successful British traditional climbers, and British onsight climbers (in both sport climbing and traditional climbing formats).
McClure started climbing early as both parents were keen climbers, and by age 16 was onsighting E6. McClure did not take up British sport climbing until he was 24. He went from onsighting E6 to onsighting 7b (5.12b); within one year was doing 8b (5.13d) redpoints in a day; within 2 years he was doing 8c (5.14b); within 4 years, at age 28, he was doing 9a (5.14d). As a late-comer to sport climbing, McClure had mixed form in competitions, retiring in 2004.
For the next two decades, McClure dominated British sport climbing, repeating the hardest routes of his predecessors such as Ben Moon's Hubble (8c+/9a), and Jerry Moffatt's Evolution (8c+), and developing Britain's first 9a routes. In 1998, he created Mutation, at the time Britain's second 9a (5.14d); but on its first repeat 23 years later was regraded to 9a+ (5.15a), Britain's first 9a+. In 2000, he freed Britain's third 9a (5.14d), Ben Moon's Northern Lights.In 2007, McClure created Britain's second 9a+ (5.15a) route, Overshadow. In June 2017, aged 46, McClure completed long term project Rainman, Britain's first-ever 9b (5.15b), with PlanetMountain saying: "Steve McClure is the climber who almost single-handedly has dictated the pace of cutting-edge sport climbing in the UK. Practically all the hardest climbs in the country are his, starting in 1998 with his 9a Mutation at Ravens Tor".
While McClure is best known for sport climbing, he is one of the few who have repeated the hardest traditional climbing routes in Britain, including Dave MacLeod's Rhapsody (E11 7a, 5.14c R/X) in 2008, and Neil Gresham's Lexicon (E11 7a, 5.14a R) in 2021. He has also freed projects such as GreatNess Wall (E10 7a), in 2019.
McClure is also known for onsighting routes, and in 2002, became the first British climber to onsight an 8b+ (5.14a) with Indian Summer at Kilnsey (he has since onsighted more routes at 8b+, such as Tom et je Ris, in Verdon in 2013). In 2009, he was unlucky not to become the first British climber to onsight an 8c (5.14b) failing at the final move of Amistad in Rodellar, Spain. In 2019, McClure made the first onsight of Nightmayer (E8 6c), one of the hardest onsights of a traditional climb in Britain,and in 2021, he flashed Impact Day (E8 6c). McClure's first British onsight of Ron Fawcett's Strawberries (E7 6b) in 2014, was also notable.
In 2013, McClure became the first-ever British nominee for a Salewa Rock Award at the 2013 Arco Rock Legends, and a citation calling him: "a true legend of this sport and his nomination rewards a lifetime of cutting-edge climbing"; the four nominees were Steve McClure, Chris Sharma, Alex Megos, and Adam Ondra (who won).
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