Matt Cousins

I started climbing when I was 11 in secondary school. I had an amazing teacher who took us climbing all over the country. We climbed a lot on the Southern Sandstone crags in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, but would go on trips to Wales and the Peak in the school holidays to climb some of the best trad routes the UK has to offer. When the weather was bad in the winter we would train and climb on the school bouldering wall and compete in both bouldering and lead competitions.

I still live in Kent and have recently switched my job from a car mechanic to route setter at The Arch climbing wall and other walls across the London and the South East.

-Hometown-

Herne Bay, Kent. But I spend a lot of time in my second home which is my van, in East/South East London.

-Projects-

Mainly focused on competition Climbing (Bouldering) but also really enjoy some hard gritstone classics. Outside of climbing, I enjoy fixing cars. (I used to be a mechanic)

-Successes-

2016 British Bouldering Champion | 2015/16 and 2016/17 Blokfest Champion | 2017 CWIF 4th Place | First Solo Ascent of Chimera 7a | Solo ascent of Gaia Black Rocks.

-Favourite Scarpa-

I compete in the soft shoe range, either Furia or Chimera and I wear the Instinct VSR for pretty much everything else which I think is the best all-round shoe on the market.

-No Place too Far-

I’d like to go on an adventure somewhere new, somewhere with big bold unclimbed boulders where I can do some first ascents! But in reality I’m really psyched to go to Bishop at some point soon, the lines are high and pure, it looks incredible!