Jacob Cook

Big Wall Climber | Mathematics Professor | Bronwyn’s Husband

Photo: Establishing The Niv Mizzet Line 13- 400m, Baffin Island 2019

Jacob Cook is a professional climber and mathematics professor originally from London, England. Jacob is an elite rock climber having climbed routes up to 14b sport and 13c trad, but his real passion is for free climbing on the world’s biggest rock faces.

Jacob’s adventure climbing story began from a sailboat on the West coast of Greenland in 2013. There, he and Ian Faulkner (as fresh-faced big wall newbies) made the first ascent of the 1200m Horn of Upernavik, in a 31 hour continuous push. Since then Jacob has sought out big, adventurous objectives around the world including:

  • The first free ascent of Disco 2000 (13c, 400m) on Blamman in Norway with Dave Macleod.

  • The first free ascent (and second ascent in any style) of the 1000m East face of Mount Slesse in BC, Canada, with Tony McLane.

  • A free ascent of El Niño (5.13c, 30 pitches) on Yosemite’s El Capitan over six days with Robbie Phillips.

  • Freerider (13a, 32 pitches) free in ~16 hours, also on El Capitan with Pete Whittaker.

  • Seen here on the left is Jacob in his natural habitat, strung out above tiny gear while halfway up the first ascent of an unnamed granite tower in 2019. This route became The Niv Mizzet Line, the first 5.13 put up in alpine style on Baffin Island.

Jacob is also a mathematician, his PhD was motivated by questions about the foundations of mathematics and infinity. Since 2017 he has worked as a mathematics professor at Quest University, Squamish.

“Climbing is about pushing yourself and finding true adventure, but more important than any of that is having a good time in the mountains with your friends.”

El Niño

Jacob and Robbie Phillips spent 6 days on the side of El Cap making a rare free ascent of the runout 13c free route, but not before Robbie got stuck in a chimney in the hail…

 
 

Blood on the Crack

Jacob and Kevin Jorgeson attempting not to lose any digits on this 5.14 splitter tips crack in the Bugaboos, Canada. A film by Heather Mosher.

Disco 2000

Skip to 6:30 to watch Jacob flinging himself through the air at a non-existent sloper. Or watch the whole thing to see Dave Macleod and Jacob make the first free ascent of this Norwegian arctic big wall!

 

Mathematics

Jacob teaches at Quest University in Squamish. He teaches calculus and analysis courses as well as a broader interdisciplinary course of his own design focusing on the history and philosophy of the subject: Puzzles, Paradoxes and the Infinite.

He gets particularly excited about rekindling students’ love of math who have closed off from the subject in high school. His academic interests are in the foundations of mathematics and undergraduate mathematics education.

What am I up to?

Am I a pro climber?? Professional climbing is this weird amorphous job with no job description and no clear career path. No one tells you how to do it, probably because no one actually knows themselves! The reality is, even the best climbers in th
We managed the first free ascent of Sea of Tranquility! (13a, 8 pitches) Somehow, despite the route being stacked with many tenuous cruxes, both @thedrewguy and I managed a no-falls ascent, swinging leads and… it also happened to be on my b
A little while ago @Bronwynhodgins and I locked ourselves in our closet and chatted with @climbwritekalman of the @americanalpine Cutting Edge podcast, about our Baffin Island trip last summer. The link is in my bio. In a lot of ways Baffin seems t
Recently I’ve been lying in bed at night too psyched to fall asleep. @thedrewguy and I are beyond thrilled to have inherited this wild full height project in the Western Dihedrals of the Chief. It’s exactly what we’ve been searchin
The raw, organic rage-psyche has been strong so far this summer! I could not be more grateful to be happy and healthy in Squamish, the place that i love. In the past few weeks I’ve climbed well over 100 pitches with many friends, hitting that s
@thedrewguy and I finished off our latest new route slab quest on the Chief, bolting on lead! We climbed a tree to reach this perfect dyke, which we followed for two pitches. The past three summers Ive been loving discovering this part of the chief a
A quick lap up the Grand Wall with two of my students! Ferdinand and @augustr.g were in my calculus 3 class at @questuniversitycanada in January, so cool to go on a big multi pitch adventure with them. I’d give their ascent a B+ ;) #mathletes
@tony.mclane and I spent a whole season discovering the free climbing on the Sheriff’s Badge on the Squamish Chief. You can see our spider’s web of fixed ropes which we used to slowly piece together our two new routes. The whole badge is