Tony Arbones Photo courtesy of The North Face

Why you should know him: Toni, who hails from Spain, opened most of the best routes, up to 8b+ in difficulty, in Siurana, Spain, one of the top climbing areas in the world.

About Toni:
Toni Arbones is an alpinist and rockclimber, one of the most prolific first ascentionists in Spain. He was born in Barcelona the 1st August 1967 and climbed his first 4000 meter peak and his first 5+ rock when he was sixteen years old. When Toni was twenty he competed in the world cup and was the sixth rated climber over all in Spain. Soon after, Toni moved to Siurana, currently one of the best and most famous sportclimbing areas in the world.

Over the next fifteen years Toni established some of Siurana's best routes, up to 8b+ in difficulty. During this time Toni also developed the first eighth level routes in the nearby cliffs of Montsant, another of Spanish highest quality sportclimbing areas. Fifteen years ago, Toni began to run the Siurana climber's refugio, which became the center for Siurana's international climbing scene. During this time Toni along with other top climbers put up some of the most difficult natural routes in Spain. In the year 2000 Toni responded to the growing climbing scene by opening a climbers’ campground and café which serves about 15,000 climbers a year.

Toni has now taken the first ascent skills that he learned in Siurana around the world, and has put up freeclimbs at the cutting edge of difficulty, in Africa, South America, and all around Europe. As Toni developed as climber, he ventured into the more dangerous venue of traditional climbing and ascended new multi pitch routes in exotic locations such as Morocco, Venezuela, Chile, Madagascar and Sardinia. Toni has also repeated some of the world’s most demanding bigwall freeclimbs, such as El Capitain's Freerider in Yosemite, and Nameless Tower's Eternal Flame in Pakistan.

Toni's image has appeared in countless publications, such as Climbing, Rock and Ice, Desnivel, Escalar, Grimper, Vertical, Klettern, and many others and he is featured in the classic Masters of Stone 4. Recently Toni produced a climbing video featuring the climbs of Siurana, and has authored a guide book to the area. Toni has climbed numerous 8b, has onsighted 8a, and shows no signs of slowing down.

In the future Toni will continue to climb bigwalls around the globe, and follow his passion for climbing at the top level in the world’s most exotic places. In the coming years Toni hopes to climb on all the types of rock the earth has to offer, and most importantly to transmit this passion to the international adventure community.

Siurana: Get Reggae 6c, Mandragora 7b, Kleptomania 7c, Mr Checky 8b+, and hundreds of others
Montsant: More than twenty routes, including classics such as Planet Umu 8a, Canaleta 8a+, Hydrophobia 8b+
Venezuela: Mundo Perdido 7b+ trad, 500meters
Chile: Clandestino 7c+ at 4000 meters, and 400 meters in length
Morocco: Jamiro, 7a+ trad, 640 meter, Xucram 7c, sport, 400m
Madagascar: Vazam Tap Tap, 8a+ sport, 650 meters

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