Ethan Pringle: A Multifaceted and Skilled Climber
Contents
- Bio
- Stats
- Notable Climbs
- Lifestyles of the Poor and Famous (V13) First Ascent – 2020
- Flash Moonlight Buttress (5.12c) – 2018
- Blackbeard’s Tears (5.14c) – 2016
- Ethan Bangs Out Thor’s Hammer (5.15a) – 2015
- Jumbo Love (5.15b) – 2015
- Go Big With Steven Roth and Too Big to Flail– 2014
- Arrested Development (5.14d) – 2012
- Tearing up the Rocklands – 2011
- Ethan Makes Quick Work of China’s Hardest Lines – 2010
- Sources
Bio
Ethan Pringle is an American rock climber who has notable ascents in sport climbing, bouldering, and even trad climbing. He was born and raised in San Francisco, and first began climbing at age eight when he discovered Mission Cliffs, a climbing gym just four blocks from his childhood home. He fell in love immediately, began competing at age twelve, and has been climbing professionally on both plastic and rock since then.
In America and abroad, he’s repeated many classic difficult sport routes like Necessary Evil (5.14c), The Golden Ticket (5.14c), Jumbo Pumping Hate on his second try (5.14a), Wheel of Life (5.14d), and Omaha Beach (5.14a).
For bouldering, you may recognize routes like Mandala (V12), Evilution (V12), Clockwork Orange (FA – V12), and Lifestyles of the Poor and Famous (FA V13).
Table Of Contents
Stats
Ape Index: 1.06 / +4″ DOB: 5/30/1986 Started Climbing: 1995 (8 years old) Hometown: San Francisco
His trad climbing tick list is smaller, but still quite impressive, with routes like Blackbeard’s Tears (5.14c), a flash of Moonlight Buttress (5.12c), Iron Monkey (5.14a), Squamish’s Cobra Crack (5.14b) and more.
As for competition climbing, he’s participated in the Bouldering Nationals, Junior Nationals, World Cups, Teva Mountain Games, and many more. Climbing magazine’s profile of Pringle notes he had four consecutive years of undefeated wins at national and international comps by age 16.
To this day, he’s an avid sport climber, trad climber, and boulderer – he enjoys sending big walls and hard boulder problems. To keep up with recent updates from Ethan, you can follow him on Instagram. He was also on the Training Beta podcast.
Notable Climbs
Lifestyles of the Poor and Famous (V13) First Ascent – 2020
One of Ethan’s more recent accomplishments is his first ascent of Lifestyles of the Poor and Famous, a highball test piece in The Buttermilks of California. He called it “one of the coolest unclimbed lines [he’d] ever seen.” It was one of the proudest FA’s of his career, and you can watch the video for Lifestyles of the Poor and Famous.
Flash Moonlight Buttress (5.12c) – 2018
Moonlight Buttress had its first ascent back in 1971 (Jeff Lowe and Mike Weiss), first free ascent in 1992 (Peter Croft and Johnny Woodward), and it was Alex Honnold’s first free solo of a major big wall. It’s had many ascents, and Ethan Pringle flashed it in May of 2018, saying “I’ve wanted to attempt the ultra classic, 10 pitch Moonlight Buttress for a while now.” The route links over a thousand feet of exposed finger cracks, and onsights and flashes of it are rare. You can watch a video of his climb and read more about his experience on Mountain Hardwear.
Blackbeard’s Tears (5.14c) – 2016
Ethan Pringle has the first free ascent of Blackbeard’s Tears, a 5.14c crack that puts it in the same grade bracket as famous trad testpieces like Beth Rodden’s Meltdown in Yosemite. He had actually hiked to the area 10 years ago, but either didn’t see the crack or wrote it off as too difficult at the time. This time around, he spent 10 days projecting it. For a more in-depth look at his experience with this climb, read this interview with Touchstone Climbing.
Ethan Bangs Out Thor’s Hammer (5.15a) – 2015
In Norway’s Flatanger Cave in 2015, Ethan Pringle repeated Thor’s Hammer (5.15a), a route Daniel Woods also climbed that year. It has become one of the more popular 5.15s in the world and has been climbed by many of the sport’s top names. Ethan has previously visited the area and already left his mark on The Eye of Odin (5.14c) and Nordic Plumber (5.14b).
Ethan on Thor’s Hammer. Photo from Lindsey Dolan.
Jumbo Love (5.15b) – 2015
In 2015, Ethan claimed the second ascent of Jumbo Love (5.15b), a route that was bolted by Randy Leavitt and first sent by Chris Sharma. It’s located at Clark Mountain in California, and has become one of the most famous routes west of the Rockies. At the time, it was the hardest single pitch of rock climbing in North America and Ethan’s hardest sport climb to date.
He’d been working on it off-and-on since 2007, eight years before his send, returning to the seemingly impossible climb over many seasons. With this ascent, he became the second American to tick the grade 5.15b. In an interview afterwards, Ethan commented on his projecting and what he learned along the way:
“What I will take away from Clark is the knowledge that I am truly worthy of accomplishing what I dream of. I have a lot more faith in myself after the close of this experience, and a lot more faith in my process. I at least hope I’ve learned to be a little more optimistic when it comes to encountering setbacks and moving past them! I think this will be a good experience to refer to in the future when that happens.“
Ethan celebrating on top of Jumbo Love. Photo from The RV Project.
Go Big With Steven Roth and Too Big to Flail– 2014
In Bishop, California, in the Buttermilks, the Luminance boulder is home to Alex Honnold’s Too Big to Flail (5.13c/d). Steven Roth and Ethan Pringle took the third and fourth ascents of the highball after spending two and a half days projecting it. The crew rallied 18 pads for a ropeless attempt and both had flawless execution on their sends. Ethan suggested the sport grade of 5.13c/d for the entire route.
Arrested Development (5.14d) – 2012
Located in the Robbers Roost sector of Mt. Charleston, Nevada, Ethan Pringle claimed the first ascent of Arrested Development (5.14d) in 2012. It’s located to the right of America’s Most Wanted (5.13c) and has been climbed many times since then.
Tearing up the Rocklands – 2011
Even though Ethan was in Rocklands, South Africa, for only a few weeks, he made quick work of the area’s top climbs. He suggested downgrades for several routes, including Derailed (V14 -> V12), Black Shadow (V13 -> V12), and Mooiste Maise (V14 -> V13). He also built up an impressive ticklist of V12 and harder problems, and many more that were V11 or less.
Ethan Makes Quick Work of China’s Hardest Lines – 2010
On a month long Chinese epic in 2010, Ethan sent some of the country’s hardest lines, including Thunder (5.14a) and Twin Lighting (5.14b) on the same day, a flash of Sea of Tranquility (5.13d), and ascents of Axe Man, Paper Cut, Gina and Tonic (all 5.13c), and French Gangsta (5.14b). He took the third ascent of Spicy Noodle (5.14c), which was the hardest route in China at the time, saying it was “the best line I have seen here.” It didn’t stay the hardest for much longer though, because a few days before he left, Ethan sent an open project bolted by Chris Sharma, calling it Spicy Dumpling (5.14d).
Cover photo by John O’Brien.
Sources
- The Indestructibles: Ethan Pringle, Climbing
- Daniel Woods, World’s Most Accomplished Boulderer, Climbing