UKC

Malham Action - New 8c and More

© Jack Geldard

Neil Mawson  © Jack Geldard
Neil Mawson
UKC News, Jun 2012
© Jack Geldard
Neil Mawson has climbed a new 8c link-up at Malham, climbing Bat Route (8c) in to Rainshadow (9a). The new link is called "Raining Bats and Dogs". Neil estimates the difficulty at 8c.

Neil is quietly amassing an incredible ticklist of both hard sport and trad routes, having repeated Tim Emmett's Muy Caliente! at Pembroke (originally graded E10, Neil thought E9) and more recently a quick ascent of Impact Day (E8/9) at Pavey Ark, Lake District.

Also at Malham, Matt Pickles has added an extension to Unjustified, calling his extra bit of climbing 'Overjustified'. This is most likely a pun on the grade of Unjustified, which over the last few years became the UK's most popular 8c, with quite a few people suggesting that it is actually 8b+.

Matt said: "It climbs straight past the chains of Unjustified and up Zippys 7a+ above."

Still at Malham, the very long route Totally Free II has had what is thought to be its third ascent at the hands of Jacob Cook. The route was first climbed by Steve Crowe and saw its second ascent (onsight!) by Adam Ondra.

It climbs all the way up Malham cove in one long 70m pitch, starting up Something Stupid (7b) then into The Groove (8a+), up Free and Easy (7c) to finish up the roof of Breach of the Peace (7c for the roof alone).

Jacob commented to UKC:

"Climbing the route was more of mental battle than anything else for me, with a lot of individual crux sections where you could fall (around 8!).

I did the line in one pitch, with one rope, meaning that the rope drag over the final roof was huge. I had to skip the last clip because I couldn't physically lift the rope above my head to clip it."


Neil Mawson is sponsored by Marmot , NourISH Me Now , Five Ten


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11 Jun, 2012
I love the effort that goes in to high end route names.
11 Jun, 2012
Well done Jacob!
11 Jun, 2012
Flipping heck Jacob, thats a good effort!
12 Jun, 2012
Genuine questions: How can 8c + 9a = 8c? Is he suggesting Rainshadow is not 9a? And about that other link - Overjustified, is 7a+ not a scramble after 8b+/8c? If so I'm struggling to see the point in that one.
12 Jun, 2012
Bat route starts up a 7b whereas Rainshadow starts up an 8a and I believe by traversing from bat route into the top of rainshadow you miss out the crux of rainshadow.
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