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Leanne Callaghan
Leanne is one of our longest standing sponsored athletes and has been working with Rab since 2004. Leanne has been climbing for 17 years and her all round ability has enabled her to assist our design team by testing the women’s clothing range in the harshest and most varied of mountain conditions. Leanne works as a hospital doctor in north Wales - specialising in anaesthetics and intensive care medicine. “Having a demanding professional life makes climbing and skiing all the more special. Being a doctor perfectly complements life in the mountains, they both have their rewards and tough challenges and are characterised by judgement calls, teamwork, experience, determination and emotional highs and lows.”
Leanne has earned herself a place as one of the most successful female British winter climbers to date and has made multiple on sight leads of the elusive and testing Scottish grade VII, 7. In January 2010 she made the first female onsight lead of both crux pitches of Neanderthal on the Lost Valley Buttress. Other significant hard winter leads include Un Poco Loco (direct start), Central Buttress and Central Grooves, both on Stob Coire nan Lochain, Equally impressive are her leads of French icefall grade WI6 test pieces; including Bienvenue au Club, Nuit Blanche, La Dame du Lac (top Pitch) and Le Grande Clot.
“Some of my most cherished climbing memories include new routing on the vast granite faces of southern Greenland, alpine mixed climbing in Patagonia, free climbing in Yosemite and feeling the freedom of nature on the sea cliffs of Cornwall, Wales and the Outer Hebrides. By far my most “profitable” leads were the E5s Supersonic on High Tor and Right Wall on the Cromlech both of which I climbed with a handsome young climber I met who I was secretly trying to impress. It must have worked: he is now my husband!”
“I would say the hardest I ever had to push myself physically and mentally was on the remote and serious East Ridge of Mount Logan in North West Canada with a small military team in 2000. I really had to dig deep into my soul to make it to the top and the guys in the team were amazing. The climbing involved my first real taste of true isolation, huge loads, bitter cold, storms and most of all the sickening exposure which lasted many days. Standing on the East Summit was exhilarating and yet really peaceful and humbling at the same time”
Leanne’s success as an all-rounder extends to include hard UK trad on-sights, alpine climbing and ski mountaineering. She has been on-sighting E4 and E5 in all areas of the UK for nearly a decade, and has climbed extensively on the big routes and north faces of the alps.
She has made ski crossings of many of the great mountain ranges and 4000m peaks of the alps and this winter she is focussing on competing in the international Ski Alpinism race scene. In February 2011 she will be representing Great Britain in the world ski mountaineering championships in the Dolomites and in March she will be attempting the infamous 4 day Pierra Menta ski race, one of the toughest races on earth. “My first attempt at Ski Mountaineering racing was hilarious, it was the world cup (possibly not the most logical choice for a first race- but what’s the worst that could happen?) It was just like an episode of Mr Bean. Everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong. Twenty minutes before the start of the race I managed to get a black bin liner irreversibly stuck to the sticky side of my brand new climbing skins ( big panic!) and at the top of the climb I was so blind with hypoxia and utterly marinated in lactic acid that I went totally the wrong way down the slalom course. I came last of course!” Since then things have improved and Leanne recently came 3rd in the final leg of the Swiss Cup.
Leanne’s most memorable routes include the Axe on Cloggy, Prozac Link on Lewis, an all-female ascent of the Central Buttress of Ben Eighe in winter, Supercouloir Direct on the Tacul, Murciana route on El Narancho de Bulnes, the Snake Dyke on Half Dome and The Arete Sud of the Aiguille Noir de Peuterey. “I simply cannot have a short memorable routes list- there have been too many good times”
