Twid Turner
Profile written by Simon Panton of DMM and Ground Up Guide books.Twid is the sort of climber who manages to be both utterly hardcore and exceptionally prolific at the same time. His track record is astonishing not only for the extreme standards achieved but also the range and diversity of his climbing. He grew up in Wallasey, England, five minutes from the legendary Merseyside sandstone bouldering crag, The Breck. Relentless sessions of fierce, fingery bouldering gave him a solid base of steely crimping strength; a very useful asset for what was to come.
And what did come next was a dramatic rush through the established classics in his adopted home of North Wales. The big numbers soon started to fall; by the time he was 20 he had climbed many E6′s and then the following year he hit E7. Twid subsequently built up an impressive list of E7 ascents (which to date stands at over 75!).Twid was particularly active at Gogarth, producing, over a 20 year period, a staggering amount of new lines. Such is the breadth of hard climbing done here it’s hard to pick one outstanding route without immediately thinking of another. Perhaps his best efforts were Vital Statistixs, an unrepeated 4 pitch E8 on Castell Helen and an impressive ground up repeat of Hardback Thesaurus E7/8 6b in Wen Zawn.
It wasn’t all confined to North Wales though; Twid has roamed far and wide in his search for challenging rock climbs. A trip to Mingulay in the Hebrides was a typical outing – in the space of a week over 20 new routes were climbed, including Perfect Monsters, an onsight E7 on the Isle of Minugulay.And then there is sport climbing – this has never been Twid’s main focus but he has still ticked numerous F8as. As for winter climbing, again he has an impressive level of experience with over 20 seasons in Scotland under his belt, plus first ascents, such as Scrabble VIII 7 on Stob Coire nan Lochan in Glen Coe. He also has extensive experience of the alpine icefalls and has climbed up to WI 7.
Twid’s alpine and big wall achievements are if anything even more impressive. He has established over 50 major new lines in the greater ranges and has climbed some of the hardest mixed and rock routes in the Alps. Highlights include the first ascents of Supa Dupa Couloir VI ED4 in Alaska (Piolet D’Or nominee), The Good the Bad and the Ugly A3+ E3 on the South Tower of Paine in Patagonia, Endless Day VI A3+ on Baffin Island andGrains of Time, a 16 pitch E3 on Suro Tondo in Mali. He has accrued more than 100 mountain bivi nights living on portaledges, many with his wife Louise!
Twid qualified as a mountain guide in 1993 and for many years worked as a senior instructor and head of rock climbing at Plas y Brenin, the National Mountain Centre in Capel Curig. He then set up his own guiding company and home became Villar in Switzerland where he now lives with his wife Louise and daughter Elin.
Location
Switzerland
Best Climbing Experience
Expedition Experience
Big Wall Climbing and Expedition Climbing
1987 Caucus reaching 5800m on Mount Elbrus
1989 ’Caveman’ Torres Del Paine, Chile Patagonia. ED 700M E5. 2 days alpine style
1990 Attempt on Cerro Torre. Retreated from high up. Argentina free climbing nr Baraloche. Salethe, Nose in a day El Cap. Regular route Half Dome
1991 ‘Halucagen Wall’ Black Canyon of Gunnison US.5 Days on route A4+.800m
1992 ’For a Fist Full of Dollars’ Torres Del Paine, Chile Patagonia, ED 800M 12 days Big Wall.
1993 ‘Shield’ El Cap A3 5 days on route. ‘Moon light Buttress’ Zion. US
1994 ’Umweltern’, Nalamortorsaq, Greenland. 700m 3 days , E5, A1. Free Route.
‘Moby Dick’ 1200m ,Greenland, 2nd ascent Greenland. First time climbed in one day..
1995 The Excellent Adventure’ Beatrice, Hushe Pakistan. ED 850M 14 days Big Wall
1996 ’Endless Day’ The Citadel, Baffin Island. ED 1000m 18 days on climb. Big Wall.
‘Grains of Sand’ Hands of Fatima, Mali. 650m E4. Free route.
1997 ’Nawas’ Nawas Brak- Amin Brak , Hushe , Pakistan. ED 1300m 18 days on Wall
‘Always the Sun’ . Madagascar. 500m 7c+. Free route. Many repeats
1998 ‘Norwegian Pillar’ Greater Trango, Pakistan. Stopped 500m from top. 21 consecutive nights on portaledges after 2000m of big wall climbing at 6000m.
1999 ‘The Crucible’ 850m New route in Lowes Gully Borneo E4 ,A4 (12 days on route)
2000 ’For a few Dollars more’ Torres Del Paine, Patagonia. 800m, E4 A1. Free route. Alpine style 3 days on route. Attempted a new line on the Central Tower of Paine (5 weeks!)
2001 ’The Land that time forgot’Acapan. Venezuela, 700m , E5. Free route.
‘Off the wall Bonkers’ Kitchatna Spires, Alaska, Big Wall ED 850m. Big Wall. 7 days on route
2002 ‘The Supa Dupa Coulior’ The Citadel, Kitchatna Spires. 1000m ED , 5+ French Ice. Alpine.Piolet D’or nominated.
2003 ‘The Perfect Storm’ Mnt Nevermore, Kitchatna Spires, 1000m ED E4, A2. Big Wall 12 days. Alaska. Mexico . Free climbing Puchero Chico.
2004 ’Storm Pillar’, Lofoten, Storen Pillar, 800m. Big Wall. 5 days on route. Norway
2005 Attempted a new line on East Face of Fixroy (7 week trip!)Patagonia
2006 ‘Biff Bash Bosh ED2 M71000m’,‘Artist Coulior TD 800m’, ‘Cool Coulior 1000m’ Kitchatnas. Alaska ‘The Good The Bad and the Ugly’ Paine. South Tower. Patagonia, 1000m Big Wall ED E3 A4. 24 days.
2007 Taghia Morocco. repeats of major routes, first British ascents of Big Walls 16 pitch 7c.
Climbs in Cordillera Blanc.Peru. Alaska , Kitchatna Spires. Snow patch spire
2008 ’Like a Pig in Shit’. Sardinia 500m new free route 7c. A1. 12 pitch sport route ‘Devil Rides Out’ Torres Del Paine.800m E4, A4, 12 Days on route. Patagonia
2009 ‘Big Lips’ 500m E56b new route. 6 new routes. 1st Brit ascent of ‘Black Mamba’ 10 pitch 7b Mali
2010 ‘Arctic Monkeys’ 1400m Big Wall in Arctic Baffin. 23 days on the face with very hard climbing all the way. PIOLET nomination big list.
2011 ‘Ecstacey’ new route on the Similestock in the Alps. Climbing up to 7c-c+. With climbing partner Andy Cave.
2012 ‘Hard Arteries’ Alaska Mixed face and Big Wall. 8 days on the face climbing to summit on Middle Triple Peak.
2013 Alaska Shaken not stirred, Mooses Tooth, new big wall in Taghia Morroco.
2014 First ascent of East face of South Tower of Patagonia month trip, E7 Dangleberries in Morroco. COlton/Mc on the North Face of the Grand Jorasse.
2015 First ascent of ‘No Country for Young Men’, ED 1000m VI, Alaska, North Triple Peak, Kichatnas, Piolet D Or nomination. First ascent of No place for young boys E 7 Gogarth. 7c+ sports climbing.
Piolets d’Or Nominee 2003 : ‘The Supa Dupa Coulior’ ED 4 VI,M7,1000m. Kitchatna Spires
The purpose of the Piolets d’Or awards is to raise awareness about the year’s greatest ascents across the world. They aim to celebrate the taste for adventure, the bravery and sense of exploration that lie behind the art of climbing in the world’s great mountain ranges.
Favourite Climbing-Related Discussion Topic
Onsight, trad, adventure, new climbs
Recent Postings
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Personal Webpage
http://www.themountainguidingcompany.co.uk/
Interests Outside Climbing
Diy, photography,
Photo Gallery
Rock climbing on zgogarths Isis is Angry E7 on the first fullrepeat
© Twid Turner
Perfect Monsters
© Twid Turner
Twid Turner
© Twid Turner
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Anything Else We Should Know
Professional Life as a Guide, Instructor and Coach
Mike has worked in the outdoors all his working life. Over the 25 years he has worked with a wide range of groups and clients. Starting off working in Mountaineering and Outdoor Consultant Management Centres mostly based around North Wales. Also in his early Professional life he worked for Private outdoor companies, Mountain Guides and in Local Education Outdoor centres with young people of all ages.
Mountaineering has always played a major part of Mike’s work whether it is guiding clients/groups up rock or ice climbs in Wales, Scotland in Winter, in the Alps or on Worldwide Expeditions. For 18 years he worked for Plas Y Brenin, The National Mountaineering Centre, 15 years of which as Senior Instructor and fronting up Rock Climbing (Head of Rock climbing) and the Mountain Instructor Certificate. Much of his work was Directing all of the National Governing Body courses, training trainers leaders and instructors. He has been a member of the Association of Mountain Instructors (AMI) since its creation.
As a IFMGA Mountain Guide he has worked extensively around the Alps mountaineering on foot and on skis, since 1993. For three years he partnered a small Guiding Company ‘Alpine Guides’ which he helped start. For the last 3 years he has run his own business Mountain Training and Guiding, based in the Alps. For the last 6 years he has been involved with training Mountain Guides to become fully qualified for the British Mountain Guides.