Pete Dawson (08-16B)
I have climbed for Great Britain for 5 years and this is my final year in the junior GB team but I am working hard to make the selection for the senior team.
My main discipline is sport climbing where you climb up to 25m with a rope and clip carabiners on the way up for protection then whoever gets the furthest up the 25m wins.
I also compete in bouldering, where you climb up to 5m and fall onto soft mats for safety. Again, whoever gets to the top of most climbs wins. I have taken part in the northern universities bouldering series and I am at the moment in 2nd place. This semester I will be competing in the British universities bouldering championships.
My climbing is not just about competing indoors I am also very keen to get outdoors on real rock. Studying at Manchester means that I am much closer to some of the best outdoor climbing venues in Britain. During the Autumn I made several trips to Malham Cove and managed to climb a route that had never been climbed before and named it’ Something For Nothing’ as climbing gives me great joy for free.
I spent Christmas in Spain and I achieved a personal best climbing’ Blomu ‘ at Santa Linya. This was graded 8c+ my hardest route to date.