UKC

Emma Twyford needs little introduction. She is one of the most accomplished and well-respected all round climbers currently operating in the UK climbing scene. Her CV of hard routes under her belt includes some of the most influential lines in climbing such as Once Upon a Time in the South West E9 6c and Mind Control 8c to name just a couple. Emma is not only known for her hard climbing, though; she works as a route setter across the country for various climbing walls. She also runs workshops designed to help teach and inspire more women to work in the route setting industry. I caught up with Emma in Wales to discuss her recent spate of hard ascents and to see what's next on the cards for her.

Good interview. Emma seems like someone who quietly gets on with her climbing operating at an impressively high standard without shouting about it.

Seems like there is a bit of competition now for the highly prestigious title of 'first British woman to climb 9a' now with Shauna having got close to doing Hubble and Mina working on Rainshadow.

It's interesting that there seems to be no male equivalent. Steve Mac took the 9b title without any competition so that's not open now but the second ascents of Overshadow, Mutation and even Rainman are all big prizes. Currently it looks like Will Bosi is the only likely candidate.

It's also interesting that trad is now viewed as a niche activity and sport climbing is the mainstream activity.

Odd title. Emma is pretty much one of the last people I would have thought of as "just" or primarily a sport climber.

Jim P and Pete D are likely candidates too; more so for the Malham stuff perhaps given how strong Bosi is on a small crimp!

I've never thought of Emma as a sport climber (sorry, Emma!). Indeed she's one of the first names that comes to mind if you asked me about British women climbing hard Trad.