‘The climbing community needs this sort of thing like oxygen at the moment... a wonderfully detailed, expansive and inspiring book.’ – Neil Gresham

Climbing has risen from the margins to the mainstream. Today, there are over 5 million climbers in the UK. From its amateur days in the 1950s to the present, where climbing finds itself recognised as an increasingly popular Olympic sport, Ascent tells the story of this remarkable transformation.

Anthony King – a dedicated climber himself – traces the sport’s evolution through decades of rebellion, innovation and achievement to its place today as a vibrant, diverse culture. His own experiences colour the narrative; we discover not just how climbing developed, but what it feels like to climb, and be a climber. More than just a history of the sport, through telling this story we also see how British society itself has been transformed.

Expansive, immediate, and deeply engaging, Ascent is both cultural sport history and lived experience.

'The climbing community needs this sort of thing like oxygen at the moment. Everyone's so tired of short snippets online and much of this important historical information will be forgotten. Anthony has done a real service to British climbing with this wonderfully detailed, expansive and inspiring book.' – Neil Gresham

ANTHONY KING is Professor of War Studies at Exeter University, but also a sports sociologist. Initially a specialist in football, his first two books were in that area - The End of the Terraces (1998), and The European Ritual, (2003). With Ascent, he draws extensively on his knowledge of the history of British sport and society. As an enthusiastic climber since the 1980s, Anthony’s own experiences add a personal element to the narrative, giving it a sense of depth and vital colour.