Ben Moon

Who is Ben Moon?

Ben Moon is a rock climber from England.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Moon, along with his climbing partner Jerry Moffatt drove forward the level of sport climbing in the UK especially, but also throughout the world. He was the first person to climb a route at the grade of 8c+, establishing Hubble at Raven Tor. At its inception, Hubble was the hardest sport route in the world, where the crux consists of a Font 8B boulder problem. Moon is best known for short and powerful routes and boulder problems.

Moon's first officially declared 8c routes had somewhat controversial names. The routes were both in France and had been previously attempted for a long time by local climbers. After climbing them Moon named them after French military disasters, first the Maginot Line, at Volx, and secondly Agincourt, at Buoux. Apart from his choice of naming, and the inevitable rivalry that comes from being part of the British Competition Climbing Team, Moon's relationship with French climbers seems to be on a friendly basis.

As of 2004 Moon is still climbing, although he now concentrates on bouldering and also giving courses to climbers. He has also started an equipment company, moon, his second after splitting from his partner in his previous company, S7.