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Lucy Creamer

Q: Age and number of years climbing?

A: 38 and 20 yrs.

Q: Where were you born and where is home now?

A: I was born in Taunton but moved around a lot as a kid, home felt like Bristol as we moved there when I was 12yrs. But have been in Sheff for over 10 yrs now.

Q: If you had to write a brief climbing CV what would your ‘top ten’ best routes or boulder problems be and why?

A: I’m not very good at lists or recalling names and grades. My memories are more pictorial and feelings. But a few routes that have stuck with me over the years are:

Sunlover Direct (E3 5c, Trevallen, Pembroke)
My first E3 on my 21st birthday.

Get Some In (E5 6a, St. Govans, Pembroke)
My first Pembroke E5.

Coronary Country (E6 6b, Lower Sharpnose, Cornwall)
The crux felt very hard to me, more like 6c and I fought incredibly hard on it and didn’t quite know how I was staying on but managed to pull it off. It was a fantastic feeling to top out on the fin; it was a route that I had wanted to do for a long time.

Mighty Aphrodite (M9, Ouray, Colorado)
This line was unclimbed and I couldn’t believe it. Again, a compelling crack that I had to do. I climbed it on trad gear and was incredibly scared. I was definitely in the zone for this one, as falling off really wasn’t an option, the gear was pants. It has since been bolted by the locals, which is fine by me, as it will now get climbed!

Venus Envy (E4/5 6a, The Baroness, Greenland)
A 16 pitch new route that I did with Airlie Anderson, we had a great trip with fantastic quality crack climbing.

Boss Hogg (E6 6c, Trevallen, Pembroke)
Again another route that I never imagined doing and had looked at for years, then I found myself onsighting it which was a great feeling.

Hasse-Brandler (VIII/F7a+, Cima Grande, The Dolomites)
Another good experience with Airlie, although our descent was terrifying. We were cold, wet and a bit lost, then it got dark…The route had some of the best climbing I’ve ever done on it and was a very memorable ascent.

Kale Borroka (F8b+, Siurana, Catalunya)
This sport route is a stunning line, a hanging crack that screams character. I wanted to climb it before I even knew what it was. So the fact that it was amazing climbing and my first f8b+ makes it special.

Planete Groove (F8a, Gorges du Tarn, France)
This was my first f8a onsight and was a major milestone for me. Although, having done the route I realise it’s not the hardest f8a in the world. But when I saw it and decided to try it, I didn’t know anything about it but liked the look of it and placed all the quickdraws on lead. I had an amazing feeling of elation when I reached the belay and felt very proud of myself!

Once Pegged Wall (VS 5a, Lawrencefield, Peak District)
This was my first proper lead and was exhilarating. I definitely got the leading bug from this route especially because most of my gear fell out but I managed to keep my head together and carry on. I realised then that I had to work on my gear placements a bit!

Q: There are many disciplines within climbing, but some folk believe: ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’. What say you?

A: I say each to their own. I have a low boredom threshold, so like to mix it up a bit but admire people who can get very focussed on one discipline. It’s something I can’t do.

Q: How do you split your climbing time between the different aspects of climbing/mountaineering, be it bouldering, trad, sport, DWS, winter, alpine, big walls or snowy mountaineering and how does this vary through the seasons?

A: I would say these days, I find myself doing more sport climbing. The last few years I have wanted to trad climb in the Summer but the weather hasn’t been too good! Also, I have done a lot of the trad routes that I’m capable of, so it means that when going to a crag, I either have very hard onsights, repeating stuff or headpointing left to do. None of these I’m particularly fond of, dying doesn’t hold much interest to me at the moment. So I find I can push myself sport onsighting and go to some nice sunny places!

Q: Top three favourite crags and why?

A: Top of the list has got to be the awesome Pembrokeshire sea cliffs. The place I cut my teeth and pushed many grades and fell in love with sea cliff climbing. It has a unique beauty, with perfect rock and normally fantastic weather; you can’t beat it! And no, I’m not paid by the tourist board; I just love that place.

Then comes a tough decision between St. Leger and Rodellar, but for me it has to be St. Leger du Ventoux. I have had some very happy times here, again it is an idyllic place to hang out and climb. Big long sport routes on tufas, with lovely surrounding areas and cool towns to sip local beers on rest days.

Even though I’ve only been once, I would say that the outer Hebridean island of Mingulay is one of my favourites. I was lucky to go with a local and he pointed me towards all the unclimbed lines, so we just did new route after new route, which was fantastic. But the big bonus was that the weather was amazing, completely glorious pretty much the whole time. It doesn’t get much better.

Q: Do you have any heroes, climbing or non-climbing?

A: I’m not a hero worshipper but I definitely admire certain people for particular things. Although I was ridiculously obsessed with David Bowie as a teenager, what I didn’t know about him wasn’t worth knowing. My bedroom was a Bowie shrine, my poor family definitely had David Bowie overload but you can’t blame me, after all he is a genius. Whoops there I go, you never quite shake it!

Q: Most impressive/inspiring ascent you’ve witnessed?

A: As I said before, I’m not great with remembering stuff, everything melds into one big lump. So picking out one memory from that ‘lump’ is a bit tricky. But I would have to say it’s a toss up between ascents that I’ve witnessed from Ian Vickers and Ben Bransby. These guys have fairly similar styles in that they don’t shake much and seem completely in control and have fantastic technique, great to watch. I do remember seconding Ian on Alien at Gogarth, he actually had to fight a bit on that thing, so I knew it was going to be hard. And it was! He did a great job.

Q: What is the narrowest margin you’ve experienced between success and failure?

A: Blimey these questions are good but hard! Digging the depths again, one that sticks out that I mentioned above is my onsight of Coronary Country at Sharpnose. The crux felt very hard and I was completely in extremis just trying anything to stay on the rock and move upwards. I remember a moment where I thought I was peeling off so I just threw my right foot out on some tiny nubbin and somehow it stayed and gave me a few milliseconds of breathing space to plan my next desperate move. I was amazed and very pleased that I managed to get through this section, it felt like I did a lot of climbing in a very short section. It seemed like I had to do some very intricate things on pants holds just to gain a fraction of height. As I said before it felt 6c to me but what do I know!

Q: What is your biggest fall?

A: Probably a soloing fall I had when I was about 20 in America. That fall scarred me for life mentally and physically. I fell about 40-45 ft onto rocks in an old quarry and was very lucky to only break a couple of bones. I pulled on a loose hold with both hands and slowly fell backwards. The fall seemed to take an age, my life really did flash through my mind and I remember looking down to see my landing zone and it didn’t look good; just a jumble of rocks. I was convinced my time was up and I think I just relaxed which possibly helped to soften the impact and reduce my injuries. I now have a healthy disrespect for all rock and am not am not that keen on soloing.

Q: Top three favourite books/authors?

A: I read a lot, every night. But I can finish a book and ask me what it was about a couple of days later, I’ll probably struggle to tell you. I like to read easy stuff at night to help me get to sleep. I like crime thrillers or just quirky books about people, I’m into what makes them tick. I’ve just finished Lord of the Rings which was a labour of love or maybe an endurance test. It took me months, where normally I’ll zip through a book quickly. But I was determined to finish it and thank god now I have. I have to admit it wasn’t really my cup of tea and I found it a struggle but I do admire Tolkien’s mind.

Q: Top three favourite bands or musical artists?

A: Without a doubt David Bowie is top of the list. He was my teenage obsession and to be honest he can still do no wrong in my eyes.
Bizarrely, I recently got into Leonard Cohen and saw him perform live twice last year. I don’t care that he was 74, his performances were incredible and he is an inspiration. Very difficult to pick out a number three, my interests change all the time. I can go from drum and bass to folk to ambient to Elvis! Once I got over the Bowie thing my musical tastes became more eclectic.

Q: Who are your regular climbing partners, and what is it that you like or dislike about climbing with them? (Go on, spill the dirt!)

A: I’ve never had regular climbing partners but more phases of climbing with certain people that seems to change with their lifestyle etc. I used to climb mainly with men but that seems to have changed over the last few years and I seem to have more women partners. I share a house with Neil Mawson and Ruth Smitton, so climb with either of them. I also climb with Alex Hughes and Katherine Schirrmacher. When I was in Spain last winter, I climbed a lot with a guy who lives out there called Ali Kennedy, I climb quite a bit with Ben Heason too.
It all kind of depends whether I’m climbing trad, sport or training indoors as to who I partner up with. Also, my partner Tim will belay me if I can’t find a partner (it can happen even in Sheffield occasionally) which is nice of him.

Q: Who was your mentor/who influenced you most as a young climber?

A: Probably, my lecturer at college, Chris. He introduced us to climbing on the course and for some reason I really took to it. He had a very confident attitude and was not an old fuddy-duddy who put us on the V Diffs. He let us try tougher grades and I tried an HVS on top rope that first day and was kind of hooked from then on. He was a pretty good climber himself, so I was lucky in that he took me on harder routes straight away. This probably accelerated my learning and also he had good technique, so passed on his pearls of wisdom about the importance of good footwork etc. He was also a rope work fanatic, which was pretty handy too. I haven’t become the gear-freak that he was but definitely picked up enough skills to keep me safe and send me on my way.

Q: Who or what gives you inspiration these days?

A: I think the older I get the more I get inspired by older people doing fantastic things. It kind of keeps you going, when you realise that life doesn’t end at 40! I always knew that was rubbish but it’s nice to have it reinforced.

Q: Top three favourite pieces of DMM kit, and why?

A: I love the IMPs. Having climbed in Pembroke a lot, my RPs were essential bits of gear that saved me from some hairy situations. But they were getting old and not looking their best but I’d never found anything to directly replace them, until now. I can’t say how much I love these little bits of gear, they are just so useful.

I am loving the new Puma. It fits like a glove and for gear freaks out there has 7 gear loops!

I really like the phantom crabs. As a small person, excess weight is pretty important to try and get rid of, so using a rack of these crabs has shaved a lot of weight from my harness. I really noticed it climbing some long trad routes this summer, where I had to take a lot of gear. I didn’t feel the need to offload half my rack before leaving the ground!

Q: If you could do it all again, would you do it differently, if so, how?

A: ‘Yes’ I would do it all again and ‘No’ I wouldn’t do it differently. I think it is sad to have regrets in life and so far I don’t have any and I hope that won’t change. When I make a decision, I stand by it for life. I look back and sometimes think, well, I probably wouldn’t have made that decision like that now but at that time in my life, it was the right thing for me. I do sometimes fantasise that I’d become a top tennis player or something and earned my millions but hey we can all dream. Money has never been a big motivator for me, so I guess it’s a good job I became a climber.

Q: What training, aside from just climbing a lot, do you do?

A: Again, training goes in phases depending on what my focus is. I have always done periods of weights. I lack power, so I feel the added strength from weights (working on my weak areas) does help with this. I have done a lot of swimming and cycling over the years, Yoga has been very important to me too. But the more I’ve climbed, in some ways the less I’ve crossed trained as specificity does work well.
I’ve always done quite a lot of indoor routes to boost my endurance levels. Living in Sheffield where the routes aren’t very long, getting an indoor session in really helps.

Q: Top three favourite climbing guidebooks?

A: Sorry, I don’t want to cause offence but that’s way too geeky for me. I hardly used to read guides or descriptions of routes. I’d just rock up at a crag, see something I liked, check the grade and jump on it. Often or not I’d be missing some crucial bit of gear that had been in the description but I’m not bothered about stuff like that. I just like having my own experience on routes and I definitely don’t like being told where the crux is- what’s the point of that?!

Q: What other interests do you have outside climbing?

A: Erm, I don’t think I understand the question…no, joke! I love anything that gets me outside. I’ve done quite a bit of mountain biking, love kiting, snow boarding, walking with the dog and occasionally running. Although, it would be stretching it to say that I ‘liked’ running, I’m definitely not a natural. I do like films and plays and also acting. But acting is like climbing, you have to dedicate quite a bit of time to it and as I live a very haphazard life, it’s difficult to commit to being part of a performance and getting to all the rehearsals etc.

Q: Other sponsors?

A: I am also sponsored by Marmot (clothing), Scarpa (rock shoes and walking boots etc) and Grivel (ice climbing equipment).

…and a few easy, quick fire choices:

Q: Camper van or tent?

A: Camper van.

Q: Wine or beer?

A: Wine (only red).

Q: Flapjack or custard cream?

A: Flapjack.

Q: Apple or banana?

A: Apple.

Q: Tea or coffee?

A: Coffee.

Q: Dogs or cats?

A: Dogs.

Q: And lastly, catch phrases: Frank Sinatra’s was “I did it my way”, Eric Morecombe's was "What do you think of the show so far?” What is yours?

A: I never was very good at the one liner… but it would probably be something like…
“what crucial RP2?”

 (Photo: Tim Glasby)