UKC

Jun 15: Steve McClure Climbs Rhapsody, Trotter Does It Again!

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/older.html?month=06&year=2008#n44777

Just talked to Steve and Keith Sharples - they're in a Morrisons fuelling up with Irn Bru and oatcakes before the five hour drive south back home.

Yip, Steve climbed Rhapsody today.

Congratulations.

More details later.

Mick

- Fraser thanks for your email too.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: yes!!!

congratulations steve, fantastic!!

oli aram

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Food of the Gods. (Clearly that's where I'm going wrong.)

Well done that man!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: Quality! Good efforts all round.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: Outstanding effort Steve. Wonder if it'll get an F grade?

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Congratulation to the man!

Now we have to sit back and wait for the armchair experts to make themselves heard!

TOP EFFORT

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: quality. strong man.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

well done that man!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: Good to see this top end route getting some attention. Good effort on steve's part as well.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

That didn't seem to take him very long!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

that was fast - amazing effort

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Wowser this soap is getting interesting, stella effort.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
What's the story here? Has he been making a concerted effort at if like MacLeod and Trotter? Or did he just rock up and climb it (which is what the story sounds like)?

In reply to cybergibbons: I didn't even know he was trying it (should I be ashamed?). I was following Sonnie on it (not literally) as I'm sure other ppl were, didn't realise anyone else was going for it.

Jun 15: Steve McClure Climbs Rhapsody, Trotter Does It Again!

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/older.html?month=06&year=2008#n44777

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: I didn't think Dave had "lowered" back to the rest ledge, I thought he down climbed.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Mick - Dave Macleod downclimbed to the mid-height ledge after placing his gear. He didn't get lowered down, which is how the report reads. Other than that, nice write-up.

In reply to Neil Morrison:

You obviously type faster than me, Neil!

In reply to Stuart S:

Cheers Stu and Ice Bun, now corrected.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

It always makes me chortle watching the videos and listening to Steve complain of being weak and scared...

Good effort for a feeble wus then!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Awesome. will be good to read what he makes of it.

S

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

You've got mail.

F

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Fascinating. Got to be impressed by that. Congratulations to Steve.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Brilliant Steve!!!!!!!!!!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Another world class preformance from Steve McClure, great stuff.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: Yep, well done Steve.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Ace, that is just fantastic!!!! If you end up reading this, well done!!!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: I don't know what to say other than. Fantastic effort, and oh boy this guy must be strong.

3rd attempt on the lead, one aborted because of an issue with a krab! So second go on the lead. Didn't I read somwhere Sonnie took over 20falls on the lead?
Oh and well done Sonnie for cleaning up the style, full style points heading your way.

Both fantastic efforts but what a measure of Steve's strength.
Top effort.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Amazing how quickly Steve got this, given it had beaten back two pretty useful climbers for quite some time. Maybe there is something to the Sport Climning malarky after all!!

Congrats to Steve - will be pretty interesting to compare the ascents.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Stirring stuff, good to see this action happening at Dumby.

It will be interesting to see if anyone starts to look at the second ascent of To Hell and Back now. Dave Birkett was checking it out a while back I believe?

Stuart

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: Well done Steve. Top marks for Sonnie and Dave too.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Totally awesome Steve!

Steve is more than onfire. Think he needs to get on something harder obviously. Get one of the Mainland european 9a''s ticked. that might give the eurowads more reason to come and try his 9's.

Cheers
Tim

In reply to tbertenshaw: What's left for him to do over here? The roof above Magnetic? The headwall above Mid Ledge (if it ever dries out/cleans up)?

Andy F

I don't want to become the most unpopular person on here, but could it be possible for Direquiem to be a bit more direct?

Still a sterling effort by all involved....much harder than 99.9% of us will ever climb whatever the grade ends up being

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
>Rhapsody: Sonnie Trotter (two ascents: 10th and 13th June 2008), Steve McClure (15th June 2008)
I dunno. You wait ages for a repeat and then 3 come along at once.

Good effort to all concerned.

In reply to ClimberEd:

err......what? Direquiem = Direct finish to Requiem....only it's not quite

In reply to Wide_Mouth_Frog:

ah, my bad, I misinterpreted what you were saying (as in I thought you were saying direquiem was more direct than rhapsody). Will delete my post

In reply to Wide_Mouth_Frog: From the diagram it looks like there is an even more direct finish that could be called Superd...?

Just to say that the amount of time ST has spent on these climbs after getting Rhapsody speaks volumes for the quality of the climbing.

In reply to ClimberEd:

ahhh....ok. Although it could well be that the more direct is just crap climbing so not worth the trouble???

In reply to Wide_Mouth_Frog: Probably impossible or futuristic.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Ste Mac is a legend- no other UK climber is operating close to his level at the moment

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Other thoughts on this stellar achievement (and where it places Ste Mac in the Pantheon in relation to others) here : -

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=306548

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
world class achievements by both parties BUT what,s next for steve "the animal" mclure.
jas

Funnily I knew SM would do it in double quick time. Astonishing.

Now, where do I get a pair of those Fat Face leggings....

In reply to JonC:


I'd be guessing Fat Face

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Great effort. But mustn't forget that Steve's repeat in 4 days doesn't mean he'd have been able to do the first ascent in anything like that speed. The unknown should never be under-estimated.

In reply to Fraser:

His shirt and hat magically disappeared. Is this a feature of all Fat Face garments?

In reply to TRNovice:

He soloed up Persistence in a duvet jacket and shed layers as he went.
(okay, not quite, but he did divest at various points on the journey)

All images shot on the same single, first attempt, I can assure you.

In reply to Fraser:

In fact, the photodiagram has him half wearing his t-shirt over his left shoulder.

In reply to Fraser:

Wasn't doubting you, just looked funny .

In reply to TRNovice:

Interesting that Rhapsody has a YDS of 5.14b R - not sure whether it has been cofirmed what Beth was claiming for Meltdown, but one report had it at 5.14c (not sure about the movie grade).

In reply to TobyA:

I agree. Before I saw the line of Rhapsody when first done by Dave, I sort of assumed that was the line it took.

In reply to TRnovice: no worries, IKWYM.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

I see Steve McClure has also commented on the route and the grade on the Climb magazine website.

In reply to Scuffer: http://www.climbmagazine.com/SteMacRhapsodyComments.aspx

" There have been a lot of comments on the line of the route, and the grade. These have come from all angles, from well qualified to total armchair critics. I don't wish to comment much now; there will be more in CLIMB. However, on the line, it is escapable, and perhaps not the soaring, pure direct I was expecting. I'm not sure I'd have known where it went if I'd turned up knowing just that it was a direct on Requiem. There are 'rules'. The purest lines don't have rules, on these you use anything in reach, clip whatever you can and make life as easy as possible. On the grade. A lot of people want the route downgraded for whatever reason, typical Brits! Firstly I'm hardly qualified having only climbed E9. The climbing is at least hard F8c, it felt like F8c+ compared to other sport routes I've done quickly, but perhaps fear added a notch. That makes E9 for effort straight away. Originally I assumed it may be E10, going straight for the lead after just a few hours looking at the route, taking a massive whipper and barely feeling a thing. The fall was safe. But I underestimated the route. There is a lot more climbing above where I fell, and on my lead I had to dig deeper than I have for a long time. The last move was as close as it gets. Perhaps if I'd fallen I'd have known for sure....

What I will say is that Dave did not overgrade the route. Not from what he experienced. The climbing is super hard, and the falls are big. Dave was hurting himself repeatedly during the falls. He didn't know if one of them could turn out really nasty. The first ascencionist can only propose a grade. This is how it works."

In reply to Lemony:

Helpful to have Dave's assessment of the Sport grade pretty much 100% confirmed: certainly 8c and quite likely 8c+. I assume Ste Mac would be better qualified to comment than most. As for E11 - seems like we won't really know until it has an onsight (I really am sounding like Mick Ryan today aren't I?).

In reply to Lemony: Thanks for linking that Lemony.

Now on the News page.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/older.html?month=06&year=2008#n44787

Jack

In reply to Lemony:

An excellent, balanced write-up from the ever-modest Steve.

In reply to Stuart S: hear hear, I concur, good effort steve mcclure

In reply to TobyA: Going straight up from here is nigh on impossible i'd say, pretty much only Rhapsody footholds and nothing else to link up to crux

In reply to Jack Geldard - Editor - UKC:

Excellent, a balanced and eloquent comment.

In reply to ClimberEd:

The 'direct' cannot be climbed. The upper part of the direct has to be accessed from either left (rhapsody) or right (direquium). Dave has climbed the hardest way up the wall, and although escapable gives an awesome and sustained route of top quality. He wanted the hardest challenge and rose to it.

The route is E11 if the fall could result in injury, E10 if it's safe. Sonny took numerous falls and I myself lobbed off from high up without even the slightest discomfort... but we were a good distance from the top. Had we dropped the last move and had the same feeling it would be E10 - but we didn't (thankfully). So I guess we don't know. Dave did, and hurt himself. He was however apparently using different belay tactics, a fixed belayer on the half height ledge reducing the rope paid out and thus increasing the fall factor and likelyhood of swinging into the wall. Having the belayer on the ground increases the weight of rope carried up - but would perhaps make the fall from the top safer....perhaps.

Good fun this lark isn't it

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Once again Steve McClure shows he is gods gift to British climbing. Who knows what he could do if he put his mind to Trad. 3 goes and Rhapsodys done? The man is a machine.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Excellent piece of writing. Its nice to read a well balanced and thought out comment from someone in the know. Good to also get an idea about one persons logic behind grading.

In reply to ste mac: Congratulations on your success and thanks for such an honest and reasoned appraisal. Glad to see that the route's been worth the attention!

In reply to Kid Spatula:

>Oh and with all the grade debate. Have you climbed near the grade? No? Then shut up. Honestly.

Gosh, wouldn't that make following sport fun.

'You think Chelsea are going to win the Cup Final? Have you played professional football? No. Then shut up. Honestly.'

I don't think it's going to catch on.

jcm

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

"Congratulations!" to Steve McClure from a fellow Brit..

"Well done that man"

In reply to ste mac:

Congratulation Steve!


Somewhere right now there is some mutant 13 year old that none of us has ever heard of, who is not even the slightest bit achy from the ridiculous circuits she was doing on her her home board last night, thinking "wanna bet old fella?"

In reply to TobyA: I really hope so!

In reply to Kid Spatula:

I think it amply demonstrates that people who *really* do sport climbing DO have balls. Just reading about things like the Hawai 50 finish at Malham is as scary as most tales of trad derring do.

good effort but i believe steve went out to the arete and then back into the middle according to eyewitness accounts on the day....arete not really in for rhapsody tick I believe???

In reply to Chiquillo:

The route I followed was the same as dave and sonnie, avoiding the jug on the left arete which can be reached, and then moving back to the crux moves upwards. The only thing that was different was that I took the last hold on the route with my right hand rather than with my left

guess that means I didn't do the route then, oh well

In reply to Chiquillo: you havin a laff?

Ste... nice one!

Mike

In reply to ste mac: Not often motivated to post but that gets my goat. Ste - sorry you had to rise to that but fair play for nipping it in the bud!

In reply to ste mac: Lol, yeah, only get the tick for the left hand....go back and do it again