Leah Dempsey’s Historic First Female Ascent of Alpha Leather

Some routes have stories to tell. Morphing somehow from inanimacy to living climbing lore. Perhaps it’s first in this act of gifting the rock climb with a name, this strange act of personification. Alpha Leather is one such fable line. With its hardened and masculine name—Cockney rhyming slang for “hell for leather”—it conjures images of physical dominance, raw strength, maybe even rebellion. Some kind of leather jacket wearing, rock climbing, Rocky Balboa cross James Dean character. An alpha with a cause.

It’s taken 25 years for a woman to send this particular burley test piece with its notable past and tempered reputation. Leah Dempsey sent it in September 2024 and Leah might be as far from an alpha male as one could get, all grace and poise. 

But I digress, let’s rewind, set the scene. 

It’s the mid to late 80s. I try to imagine the mechanical whir of drill guns, the scraping of wire brushes the dink dink of tools chipping rock. The frontier days of “hard” sport climbing, where a decent chip or two or even three to help the line on its way, was not out of the ordinary. In fact it was, in many cases, standard practice. Chipping also fell out of favour as the use of glue to secure more fragile holds became more widespread.  

The first climbing gyms in New South Wales were not indoors; they were alfresco. 

Nestled in amongst the heath, light dappling through the eucalyptus, Centennial Glen, a local proving ground, where the governance of such activities was likely as loose as the bolting ethics of the time. The style of sport climbing was still very much in its infancy.

Alpha Leather started its life as a four star classic grade 28, first established and climbed by Mike Law… with a bit of creative help from his drill. Garth the GOAT Miller, who would later go on to free this route in its quote unquote “natural state”, onsighted it at grade 28, circa early 90s. By the standards of the time this was significant in and of itself, although his best onsight was a groundbreaking world first at grade 32 on Better than Life, another Centennial Glen test piece. Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that Leah also did the first female ascent (FFA) of Better than Life in 2017.

Then came “the great chip fill in of the glen” where all manufactured routes, of which there were many, were repaired with cement. Garth then did Alpha Leather a second time, because that’s just how Garth did things in the 90s, and graded it 32.    

The ethereal charm of the light quality in the Glen remains the same, but the climbing narrative has changed somewhat, thank goodness. There’s a lot more lace mixed in with the leather these days. It’s also notable that for such an easily accessible and classic line it has taken so long for a female climber to send it, although only a very small number of Australian female climbers have climbed harder than this—for example, modern Australian rock climbing icons such as Monique Forestier, Andrea Ha, Rose Weller and of course Angie Scarth-Johnson.

Personally I have a complicated relationship with the labelling of first female ascents. It’s layered and nuanced. The glass ceiling of what’s possible in rock climbing is being consistently smashed and the gender divide in performance within this sport more and more blurred. 

Leah also feels a little unsure as to where she stands on the significance of FFAs. “Rope climbing is rarely based on pure strength alone and more so on creativity and resilience,” Leah said. “In saying this, there are a few rock climbs that can be seen as less approachable for females in terms of biological predispositions. Alpha leather is one of those rare climbs that does demand a large amount of raw strength, and power and technique will only get you half the distance.” 

Regardless of anyone’s view point on FFAs, I’ll take any excuse to celebrate the brilliance and prowess of our local Queen of Centennial Glen and a new and exciting entry to add to the storied history of Alpha Leather. Leah first started consistently trying Alpha Leather in 2021. It then proceeded to rain for pretty much two years straight as we grappled with back to back La Niñas. She only managed a handful of days from 2022 to 23, although Leah admits to still believing at this time it was too difficult for her.  

Then in August of 2024 she got stuck back in. It took multiple sessions for Leah to find beta that would potentially work with her height. She conceded at times feeling frustrated at the ease in which certain moves appeared for others trying the route and so difficult for herself. However, two of Leah’s rock climbing superpowers are her exceptional heel hooking ability and her pinch strength. With a bit of wizardry she managed to weave both these skills into unique solutions for both cruxes. 

But, as in all good sagas, a stumble or two on the path to glory is a given. A tiny crystal broke on a gaston at the first crux. It was so small that most mortals wouldn’t have noticed, but it was imperative for Leah. 

“It made that section feel a lot harder,” she said.

She even went as far mentally as feeling that this would make it impossible for her to do the route and nearly wrote it off. 

“Then I realised that it was silly to be mad about something that I can’t change, and my desire to do the route outweighed my anger,” Leah decided.

After this she only allowed herself to try the route once a week, which ultimately contributed to her success. “This was key because it meant I wasn’t stressing about it all weekend. Plus it’s super physical and back-to-back days on it were fruitless,” Leah said.

There is no doubt that Leah Dempsey is strong and powerful. You obviously don’t get to take down various test pieces in the Glen without incredible power and strength. But for those of you lucky enough to have watched Leah climb it’s a celebration of (excuse the hyperbole) the divine feminine. She has an unique lightness and fluidity of movement that seems at loggerheads with the bouldery power endurance benchmarks that she’s so good at. 

A sublime fairy dance, a refreshing tonic to the boys’ club powerhouses of the past. A bit of Betty Boop to ruffle a few feathers. Congratulations Leah. 

This story originally featured in Vertical Life # 50. Grab your copy here