John started climbing at the age of 10 on the local cliffs close to his home in Bradford West Yorkshire. He then went on to establish a series of World class new routes including the first route to be graded 8b in Britain, Magnetic Fields at Malham Cove and the hardest route on gritstone at the time, New Statesman E8, 7a at Ilkley Yorkshire in 1987.
In 1987 John competed internationally placing 2nd at the Troubat World cup in France.
In 1989 he climbed the now legendary prow at Burbage South, Derbyshire to produce Parthian Shot. The first true E9 on gritstone, which remained unrepeated alongside New Statesman for almost a decade.
During the nineties John climbed many new routes in the UK and Europe and continued to push standards in both the athletic realm of sport climbing and the more serious discipline of traditional climbing.
In a career spanning over 30 years John has establish many new routes, climbed extensively in the Alps and visited many countries around the world on rock climbing and mountaineering trips.
John continues to climb on a regular basis and still has many projects and climbing trips planned for the future.
John is the founder of Parthian Climbing, a group of high quality climbing centres aiming to encourage a whole new world of climbers. His latest centre, the fifth in the UK (in addition to Manchester, Harrogate, Reading and Southampton) opened this summer in Wandsworth, London
The Ellie Soutter Foundation
The Ellie Soutter Foundation was set up to support young winter sports athletes through funding initiatives and coaching them through the pressures of professional competition following the tragic death of Ellie Soutter in 2018. Importantly the foundation is now focused on raising awareness of the dangers of concussion and has recently partnered with ImPACT online ConcussionTesting.
The ImPact Baseline Test is an online assessment which measures functioning of the brain in a healthy state. Take the test and store it on the FREE app provided so you can carry it with you. In the unfortunate event you experience a concussion you can then sit a post traumatic test to help medical professionals determine changes from your original test and help you with your recovery.
Purchase your Online test at www.theelliesoutter.foundation