UKC

16 year-old Aidan Roberts has made the third ascent of Neil Gresham's latest new route Freakshow 8c at Kilnsey. What makes Aidan's ascent all the more impressive is that it was his first outdoor sport climb, he completed it in just two sessions and - wait for it - he's been climbing for all of three years!

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In reply to UKC News:
Had to check that it's not April 1st - what an incredible story!

After a quick search this Adain is barely even Googl-able yet!

Looking forward to hearing more about him over the next few years

Dan Heath

In reply to Hyeri Heath:

You can find him on this site's logbooks though http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/showlog.html?id=173343

In reply to UKC News:
Nice on Aidan - awesome! Some rather poor fact checking from UKC though

In reply to UKC News:

Kind of goes against the UKC dogma that indoor climbing has nothing to do with outdoor climbing... :P

In reply to UKC News:

So what happened to the second ascent? Can't find any news item on that which seems rather odd.

In reply to stp:

Think barrows did it

In reply to UKC News:

First outdoor sport climb!!! Completely gobsmacked!

In reply to ashtond6:
I did indeed. Normally 2nd or 3rd ascent wouldn't be newsworthy, but Aidan smashing out this, an 8B and winning that comp in the space of about a month definitely is, especially given he's not a sport climber and he's only been climbing 3 years. That's serious potential!

In reply to abarro81:

Especially when you consider the performance of our government supported tennis players or olympic runners e,c,t
Top coaches , funding , then full press coverage
Of how we lost !

In reply to abarro81:

Congrats on the second ascent. Very well done.

I get the news angle on Aiden's ascent. But I disagree that the second ascent is not newsworthy. Freakshow is one of the hardest new sport routes done in the UK this year so the second ascent is far more newsworthy than, for instance, when some Brits do the umpteenth ascent of some 8c abroad (which sometimes gets covered in the news). The opinion of second ascenionists is also valuable as its the first 'impartial' opinion about a route and so they're in a unique position to confirm or disconfirm the grade, nature of the route etc.

I think its also interesting because your repeat comes so soon after the first ascent. How long did it take you, how hard do you think it is and any other thoughts about the route? Cheers.

In reply to stp:
Cheers.
Partly in answer to your questions, I wrote a little something about my last few weeks swinging around up in that roof here: http://alexbarrowsclimbing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/kilnsey-main-overhang.htm...

In reply to UKC News:

Good work, but I'm always worried when I see young bones and joints being put through the stress of hard routes, makes me think of the crippled 30 year olds I see now that were doing hard routes 15 years ago, who cannot climb anymore. Time will tell.

In reply to abarro81:

Nice one thanks. Definitely interesting to read about and of course this gives Aiden's ascent more context too.