Ethan Pringle

Early life Pringle was born and raised in the Mission District, San Francisco, and started climbing when he was 8 years old and began competition climbing when he was 12. By age 12 he had redpointed his first , and by age 13, had redpointed his first .

Sport climbing

Pringle came to international attention with his September 2007 repeat of Chris Sharma's groundbreaking 2001 route, Realization/Biographie , in Ceuse, France. At the time, 9a+ was the highest recognized consensus grade for a sport climbing route in the world.

Recovering from his serious injury in 2009–2010, Pringle began to make FFAs of routes including Spicy Dumpling (2010, China's hardest sport climbing route) and Arrested Development (2012). Empath – Kirkwood, California (US) – June 2021. Fourth repeat of Carlo Traversi's 2020 route.

Thor's Hammer – Flatanger (NOR) – October 2015. Fourth repeat of Adam Ondra's 2012 route.

Realization – Ceuse (FRA) – September 2007. Fourth repeat of Chris Sharma's 2001 route. Everything is Karate – Bishop, California (US) – April 2017. First ascent.

La Reina Mora – Siurana (ESP) – March 2016. Repeat.

Spicy Dumpling: – Yangshoo (CHN) – December 2010. First ascent of Chris Sharma's bolted line, and China's hardest sport climb.

Onsight Iron Man – Rodellar (ESP) – October 2007. Repeat onsight. and was considered to be probably the hardest traditional climbs in the world at the time; and still one of the most difficult. Cobra Crack – Squamish, British Columbia (CAN) – August 2008. Third ascent of Sonnie Trotter's famous 2006 route, and still considered to be one of the world's hardest traditional climbs.

The Nest – Red Rocks, Nevada (US) – July 2018. Fourth repeat of Daniel Woods' 2013 boulder.

Kintsugi – Red Rocks, Nevada (US) – April 2019. Fourth repeat of Nalle Hukkataival's 2015 boulder.