Profile

Sam Hamer

Ambitious Rock Climber

Sam was born in South Africa in 1989 and spent the first 11 years of his life in various countries on the African continent. It was there that he was introduced to the outdoors thanks to many trips to the bush and Africa’s mountain ranges.

With his family, Sam moved to the UK in 2001, and his climbing obsession really kicked off in 2004 thanks to a summer holiday to Sardinia. He then started accompanying his dad to a local climbing wall, initially top-roping routes, but over time he progressed to leading. Sam entered his first climbing competition in 2005, finishing fourth in his debut event, but it wasn’t long before he decided to head outside and focus on real rock.

Since then, Sam has spent most of his time climbing outdoors, visiting as many new areas as possible, meeting lots of amazing people, climbing on loads of different rock types and experiencing the different styles that can be tried.

On the rock, Sam has steadily improved and worked his way through the sport climbing grades. He climbed his first 8a in 2008 and first 8b on New Year’s Day 2010 in Siurana (east of Barcelona). He has now climbed over 100 routes of grade 8 and above and has flashed up to 8a.

Significant routes have included L’ami de tout le monde (8b), Zona 0 (8b), Melancholie (8b), Les Chacals (8b), Photo Shot (8b), Supercool (8a+), Grooved arête (8a+), Nemesis (8a+), R&P (8a+), Priez Pour Nous (8a+), Chimes of Freedom (8a+), Overnight Sensation (8a+), Statement of Youth (8a), Raindogs (8a) and The Thumb (8a).

Sam is a very keen traditional climber, having completed over 40 routes between E6 and E8. These include End of the Affair (E8 6c), My Piano (E8 6c), Master’s Edge (E7 6c), Balance It is (E7 6c), Janus (E7 6b), Yukan 11 (E7 6b), Gathering Sun (E7 6c), Top Loader (E7 6c), Apoplexy (E7 6b, the third ascent), Berlin Wall (E7 6c) as well as some North Wales classics such as Heart of Stone (E7 6c), Beginner’s mind (E7 6c), Ring my bell (E7 6b) and Pretty Girls Make Graves (E6 6b). Sam also enjoys bouldering and has climbed a number of V10s and V11s including The High Life (V11), Cave Life (V11), Lou Ferrino (V10) and Ben’s Roof (V10).

Over the past few years, Sam has spent the majority of his free time climbing at some of the world class areas around Europe. This has included trips to Spain, France, Austria, Italy, Greece, Germany and more recently Turkey, interspersed with road trips around the UK. Last summer, he travelled around Europe for three months in a van, taking on some of the best sport crags in the world.

Sam’s personal goals for the coming years are to improve as a climber and become a better all rounder. He is training to sport climb 8b+ , traditional E9 and onsight E7. He hopes to travel to as many stunning places around the world as possible and test himself on the amazing climbing that each place has to offer. Whether that involves going to well renowned spots to repeat hard classics, or heading off and discovering completely new areas and putting up first ascents, Sam is raring to tackle the lot.

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