We are pleased to announce that the Lakeland climber Dave Birkett has joined Sterling Rope.

Dave will be part of the International Sterling Rope team that includes Chris Sharma, Nicolas Favresse, Enzo Oddo, Kevin Jorgeson, Will Gad, Markus Bock, and Joe Kinder (click here to see the full team). Dave will be using Sterling Ropes exclusively for all his first ascents and repeats.

Dave Birkett's If Six Were Nine from 1992 was the first yomp forward from Johnny Dawes' Indian Face. Since then it has been Birkett and Dave MacLeod who have pushed the danger boat ever further from the shore.

For most UK climbers 43 year old Dave needs little introduction, he has been at the cutting edge of trad climbing for over 20 years, has sport climbed up to 8b+ (5.14b), established winter routes up to IX, and bouldered Font 8A (V11). Dave is married to the talented climber Mary Jenner, they live in Little Langdale in the Lake District and Dave makes a living as a stonemason and sheep rescuer. Dave's grandfather Jim was a climber, responsible for the classic Overhanging Bastion at Castle Rock and Harlot's Face, possible the UK's first E1. Dave's uncle Bill Birkett is also a well known climber and author.

IN THE LAST YEAR

In the last year his achievements include the second repeat of James Pearson's The Walk of Life, originally given E12 and establishing his own route on Dyer's Lookout, Once Upon A Time In The West E9 6c.

Last winter he established Never Ever Say Never VIII on Scafell. This winter on the same crag he made the first repeat of Brian Davison's 1987 winter route, Harvest Crunch VII and established a new winter line based on Mayday Climb and SOS, again on Scafell.

DAVE'S CHOICE OF STERLING ROPES

Dave will initially be using the Sterling Rope Nano 9.2mm (the 80m version) and the Duetto 8.4mm (60m). He has also requested a 150m static rope to help clean some projects he has in Scotland and the Lake District.

Sterling Rope Fusion Nano 9.2

The Nano 9.2mm, with its super skinny construction lives up to the Sterling Rope trademarks. So, no matter what happens to your skin, one constant you can count on is that the Nano will deliver high end performance and longterm durability on extreme onsights, redpoints, and alpine routes.

More info: Sterling Rope Website

The 2005 collaboration between adventure film makers Alastair Lee and David Halsted has become one of the most significant British climbing films in years. Set in Stone charts the routes of arguably the worlds greatest traditional climber; Dave Birkett.

WHAT OTHERS SAY

Niall Grimes said recently at the MOONBLOG

''''Dave Birkett's If Six Were Nine from 1992 was the first yomp forward from Johnny Dawes' Indian Face. Since then it has been Birkett and Dave MacLeod who have pushed the danger boat ever further from the shore.

“There's probably fifteen or twenty trad routes harder than Indian Face in the UK now,” reckons Dave MacLeod. “And that's a lot considering the effort required to do a new route in the mountains in the UK.” The majority of these are the work of the two Daves.'''''

Dave's CV of hard routes is impressive and includes: If Six was Nine E9, Talbert Horizons E9 6c, Return of the King E9 6c, Welcome to the Cruel World E9 7a, Impact Day E8/9 6c and includes repeats of routes initially graded E10 such as Breathless and Divided Years, and Dave MacLeod's Holdfast E9 7a. Many new E8's, an E8 onsights including Fear of Failure at Dove Crag and My Piano at Nesscliff. He is no slouch when it comes to sport routes making a repeat of Mandela 8b at Kilnsey Crag and establishing the as yet unrepeated Caveman 8b+ (possibly 8c) in Cathedral Quarry.

STERLING ROPE

For over eighteen years now, Sterling Rope has been designing and manufacturing the highest quality, most technically advanced rope and cord for climbing. Our ropes for climbing and outdoor are designed for their specific purpose and as such we offer a broad range of great ropes from which to choose. Sterling ropes are made to perform extraordinarily well in all conditions due to our unique DryCore™ and Better Braid Technology™. These processes give you incredibly durable ropes that are smaller in diameter, lighter, and better handling, as well as dry cores, designed to keep moisture out and performance up.

Sterling Rope are distributed in the UK by Beta Climbing Designs.

Sterling Rope Stockists in the UK

• Lakes Climber
• Rock and Run
• Crag X
• The Climbing Works
• Rock On
• The Climbers Shop
• The Depot Climbing Centre

Check stockists at www.betaclimbingdesigns.com

Dave Birkett is sponsored by: