James started soloing in his first year of climbing and did lots of soloing and trad routes in the UK, trying to climb the best routes in the area. He climbed his first E7 on first attempt in 2000 and has climbed many more in similar style on many different rock types in the UK. He did the third ascent of Britain's hardest slab at the time, The Very Big and the Very Small, in 2005. He has gone on to do less soloing and more sport climbing in recent years to help try some dream climbs.

Career accomplishments:

• First ascent of the Meltdown, one of the world's hardest slabs, 2012
• Second ascent of the Big Bang, F9a, 2011
• Doing Predator, F8b and Unjustified F8c in a day, 2011
• Third ascent of Vouie Petit, F8b, Grand Capucin in the Alps, 2009
• Climbing Careless Torque, Font 8a twice in a day (almost 3 times)

Asked about his plans for the future, James said he “just wants to keep climbing lots of great routes. I want to try the direct Longhope route on Hoy (Dave Macleods), a trip to Yosemite to try Muir Wall or Salathe and Southern Belle. I want to try to link Meltdown into a great looking extension. I'd also like to try a trip to Canada to climb at Squamish to try lots of classics such as the Shadow and to see how hard Cobra Crack is”.

James joins the likes of Alex Chabot, Nina Caprez, Josune Bereziartu, Jonathan Siegrist, Will Stanhope and Mina Leslie-Wujastyk as part of the Arc'teryx Climbing Team. To check out all the Arc'teryx athletes click the link below.