Britain's top sport climber, Steve McClure has recently made the first British onsight ascent of Ron Fawcett's classic Tremadog test piece; Strawberries, E7 6b.
Notorious for being tricky to onsight, due to having a blind sequence, Strawberries has seen just three onsight ascents since Ron climbed it in 1980.
Before Steve, all onsight ascents were from foreign climbers; Stefan Glowacz in 1987, Jorg Verhoeven in 2011 (UKC News Report) and Hansjorg Auer in 2012 (UKC News Report). In addition to this, it was also flashed by Felix Neumarker in 2013 with the gear in place and beta on the crux.
Many of Britain's best trad climbers have tried to onsight the route, including James McHaffie and Pete Robins, but none have succeeded until now.
Commenting on his Facebook page, Steve said:
"At last. The monster is slain. Strawberries onsight. One of the most legendary routes in British climbing. Saved it for years, then spent years desperately just trying to get on it, whatever the outcome. A route to do before you die, I wondered if it was going to slip away untried! And then everything just fell into place. Amazing route, as great as its reputation. But was it as hard?"
- You can read a full article about Strawberries here: UKC Article - Strawberries.
We will bring you more information on this as soon as we have it.
Steve McClure is sponsored by: Beal, Five Ten, Marmot and Petzl
Comments