Thomasina Pidgeon

Darlene Thomasina Pidgeon is a Canadian rock climber known for being one of the world's strongest female boulderers in the early 2000s and 2010s, was for a time the strongest female Canadian boulderer, was the first Canadian female to climb the grades of V10, V11, and V12, and is a former IFSC World Cup climber for Team Canada. She has been featured in several international magazines and websites and her image has been used in advertising, magazine galleries, and guidebook and magazine covers. In 2025 Pidgeon was one of the main subjects of the Reel Rock 19 Film The Cobra and the Heart which shared the story of her daughter Cedar and partner, renowned Swiss trad climber Didier Berthoud. She is a climber, writer, and activist.
Thomasina's daughter Cedar Pidgeon was also featured in The Cobra and the Heart and currently climbs for Team Canada on the IFSC circuit.

Early life

Pidgeon started climbing near Flatrock in her early 20s on a trip home to her native Newfoundland. Soon after she moved to Whistler, British Columbia, and climbed occasionally at small local sport climbing areas like Nordic Rock and Rogue's Gallery while working several jobs with the goal of visiting Europe for an extended trip. With the money she'd saved she got a working visa and went on a year-and-a-half long trip to Wales, Ireland, parts of Eastern Europe, and Morocco. She learned to traditional climb in Wales, but most of the trip was spent visiting new places. She returned to Canada, moved to Kelowna, and began studying sciences at Okanagan University College. She continued climbing while in school and after a year and a half she moved to Vancouver to work and climb as much as possible. She got a job at Mountain Equipment Co-op and began climbing at The Edge climbing gym in Vancouver. She injured her shoulder, kept climbing on it, and eventually was unable to lift her arm above shoulder level. After a year off of climbing her arm had not improved so she visited a physio-therapist and with the exercises he taught her she was able to strengthen her shoulder and climb again. She began spending much of her time outside on the boulders at the base of the world-famous granite monolith "The Chief" in Squamish, BC.
Pidgeon quickly became integrated into the Squamish climbing community and in 2001 she moved to Squamish, where she spent many years living in a van.
Pidgeon has a degree in Political Science from the University of Victoria and is active in environmental causes and supporting the rights of van dwellers.

Climbing career

Bouldering

In her first decade of climbing Pidgeon quickly became one of the most progressive female boulderers in the world, opening the doors to the harder grades by making First Female Ascents of many double digit problems.
V10 - In 2001 Pidgeon made an ascent of Zero Zero in Squamish, BC. The problem had previously been climbed by American climber Tiffany Campbell. Pidgeon had only climbed a handful of harder moderates at the time and for a climber of her level, much less a female climber, to try a V10 was considered ridiculous. Nevertheless, Pidgeon picked her project and after only a handful of days of effort she sent the problem. It was one of the first female V10 ascents in the world and the first by a Canadian woman. It was another year before Pidgeon began climbing V10 again, but that year was quite productive with ascents in Squamish, Hueco Tanks, Bishop, Little Cottonwood Canyon, and an area in Nova Scotia. 2004 saw two more ascents and 2005 one. In 2006 Thomasina became pregnant with her daughter Cedar and did not begin climbing seriously again until 2008 when Cedar was old enough to travel. That year Thomasina made four more V10 ascents. Since then she has kept up the pace, sending several V10 and harder problems each year. As of August 2011 she has sent over 40 V10s.
V11 - Pidgeon was the first Canadian woman and one of the first women in North America to climb V11. As of August 2011 she has done over 20 V11s, almost all FFAs. Her first was "The Egg" in Squamish in 2008. She quickly followed that ascent with Water Hazard, La Belette, Lucky Charms, and Beefy Gecko, all in 2008. In 2009 she managed "Encore En Fois", and in 2010 she went back on the road and did 8 more V11s, 7 of which were FFAs. Perhaps most impressive was her FFA and 2nd try ascent of "The Hand" in Hueco.
V12 - Pidgeon was the first Canadian woman and one of the first women in North America to have climbed V12, and she for a long time was one of only a few female boulderers in the world to have climbed multiple V12 boulder problems. As of 2011 she has climbed 7 V12s-- "The Butterpumper", "Rumble in the Jungle", "Barefoot on Sacred Ground", "Summoning Sit", "Sur Le Tois", "Beautiful Gecko", and "The Aquarium". She has also done two slash grade problems -- "Sarah Sit", and "Chablanke".

Routes

Sport

"Technical Ecstasy"
"Presto"
"Young Blood"
"Golden Boy"

Trad

"The Grand Wall"
"The Daily Planet"

For a full list of Pidgeon's bouldering and route ascents search for her scorecard on climbing ranking site 8a.nu. or see her

Canada

2015 - IFSC Boulder World Cup - Toronto - 28th
2015 - Canadian National Bouldering Championships - 12th
2015 - BC Bouldering Provincials - 3rd
2014 - IFSC Boulder World Cup (CAN_ - 33rd
2014 - Canadian National Bouldering Championships - 5th
2014 - Tour de Bloc Regionals - Quebec - 4th
2012 - Tour De bloc - Montreal - 2nd
2012 - Tour De Bloc - Ontario - 2nd
2009 - Tour De Bloc - Kelowna, British Columbia - 1st
2008 - November Sessions - Vancouver - 3rd
2007 - November Sessions - Vancouver - 1st
2007 - Rockfall - St. John's, Newfoundland - 1st
2005 - Petzl Roc Trip - Squamish - 2nd
2005 - Pebble Wrestle - Abbotsford, BC - 1st
2005 - Tour De Bloc - Richmond, BC - 1st
2004 - Crag X ABS6 Comp - Victoria, BC - 1st

International

2014 - Bouldercup - Germany - 1st
2014 - Bavarian Boulder Battle - Germany - 1st
2014 - Soul Moves - Germany - 1st
2013 - IFSC Boulder World Cup - Slovenia - 35th
2010 - Hueco Rock Rodeo - 2nd
2009 - Hueco Rock Rodeo - 1st
2006 - Boulder Fest - Australia - 1st
2006 - Boulder Fest Overall - Australia - 2nd
2005 - Seoul International Bouldering Competition - Korea - 4th
2004 - Seattle Bouldering Challenge - Seattle, USA - 2nd

Media

Video & Podcast Appearances

Thomasina was one of 5 athletes to be featured in The Season 2, a 22 episode web TV show.
Climber in "Herman Hesse Memorial Hospital" commercial for US TV, 2008
Featured climber in the Top 20 Boulder Classics of NA, N. Condor film, 2006

Books

Contributed to