For the past couple of years, Russian-born photographer Marsha Balaeva has dedicated herself to capturing the climbing action on the limestone crags of Yorkshire and the Peak District. Her incredible images have graced Instagram throughout that period but over a year ago, an idea came to her.


“I


will photograph anyone; it’s my passion,” she says. “But I realized how much it meant to me to photograph women, and also how incredible they look, so graceful and focused.” The idea coalesced in the late summer of 2020 with a photograph of Anna Wild on GBH, an 8a+ wall climb at Malham Cove: “It had everything – it has the crag, the


face, the body position. When I saw it I thought, I want to take more pictures like this.” That was the start of it. The idea quickly grew, and the number


of women climbers coming forward or responding to Marsha’s enquiries quickly revealed the scope of the project. As the idea moved forward it became clear that not only did she have to take the photos, but that they would need to be shown. “In the summer of 2021, I took a photo of


Emily Johnson on Defcon 3 at Gordale. It had action, drama, a sense of place, the wind was in her hair. When I saw this I thought, ‘Now I have an exhibition!’” And now the exhibition is out there. Manchester’s Parthian Climbing Centre is displaying 30 of Marsha’s prints. They are beautiful and artistic. On top of that they are a document of the depth of female talent operating in the UK today. The climbs that feature in these photos – Mandela, Mecca Extension, Defcon 3, GBH and many more – are dream ticks for any committed powerhouses with enough training, time and talent. And what these photos capture is that there is now a lot of young women for whom these routes are a reality, and even a stepping stone. For more of these, follow Marsha on Instagram or, better again, get yourself along to the exhibition (Parthian Climbing Manchester until 8th Feb, Parthian Southampton 14th Feb until 14th March, then on the BMC stand at the Sheffield Adventure Festival 19-20 March) to see them in their full glory. Niall Grimes caught up with Marsha at


Parthian climbing to find out more about the project:


The first picture I took in the exhibition dates from 2020 but it wasn’t until April last year that I made a conscious decision, that I was going to commit to this project. I was going to seek out female climbers, set specific dates, get on the ropes and have a proper crack at taking some really good pictures of them. The girls were super cooperative.


Sometimes they would recommend their friends, sometimes say: ‘Oh, have you heard of this girl, she’s trying this or that’. It all just came together organically. I find that British people in general, and


women in particular, are very reluctant to put themselves forward and seek visibility, they want to send their projects without much fuss or attention. I can’t get my head around it - these women are trying incredible routes and are doing such cool things, this is so inspirational! And yet their attitude was Who wants to know about this?. For me, as a Russian, displaying your achievements is a lot more culturally normalised and I firmly believe that no climbing achievement that took a lot of hard work and dedication is trivial or mundane. There is no doubt that climbing at the elite


athlete level is inspiring, but for a climber like myself, it is the real people, with real jobs, who balance all that with climbing on their days off, they are the true role models and deserve a lot more exposure than they get. Climbing photography and climbing videography is a very male-dominated field; you don’t often see the female perspective. And while I also take a lot of photos of male climbers, I decided I had to redress the balance and show what I see around me on the outdoor female sport climbing scene, because there is a lot more going on than you first realise. I got to witness some great stories


unfolding. For example Tanya Meredith and Ella Russell trying Mandela together, the incredible 8a+ that goes across the huge roof at the top of Kilnsey. They were working the route together and it became a beautiful story of friendship, belaying


Watch the full interview on BMC TV: www.youtube.com/teamBMC


V Emily Johnson climbs up a steep Yorkshire cave dressed to impress!


each other, giving each other tips and support, encouraging each other until they both did the route. And that’s the thing about the climbing community that I love. Over 20 years ago, while still living in Moscow, I’ve finished a degree in ‘Photography and Photo Technology’, which was centred around the technical aspects of photography: developing and printing, studio set-ups and using medium format slide film for taking images. I have worked as a freelance photographer on and off ever since in very different fields: editorial, commercial, sport and theatre. I wanted to take photographs of climbing as soon as I was first introduced to it three and a half years ago. For me, it felt a lot less like sport coverage and more like journalism, documenting events and using my own visual language to tell the stories. One of the great challenges of this project has been the logistics of getting into the right position. Bolted limestone crags often lack access from above for an abseil, so most of the time you set up an anchor on the bolts of a nearby route, which requires some additional kit and learning rope access skills to get there safely. At the start I needed a lot of help and had some sketchy moments, when I simply didn’t know how to get the gear and myself down without assistance. The physicality of this process is not to be underestimated either - using a clipstick to go bolt to bolt, pulling yourself up on the rope, using the jumar to get back up, lifting the camera kit, this often means that you end up with no time or energy to climb that day. I am incredibly lucky to be able to witness


climbing so close to the action, it looks nothing like it does from the ground. You see the emotions, fingers latching on terrible holds, the exposure and the distant ground below. Even the climbers themselves don’t get to see what they look like when they are climbing at their limit. The beautiful thing about climbing photography is how much your position affects the kind of image that you get, two metres higher or being on the left instead of right and it’s a completely different shot. Position and timing are everything.


Follow Marsha on Instagram: @marshabalaeva


SUMMIT#105 | SPRING 2022 | 19


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