The UK sport climbing season is well underway with a handful of ticks up to 8c+ over the last few weeks. Malham Cove​ has been a hive of activity with climbers travelling from far and wide to make the most of the British 'summer.' William Bosi, Jonathan Freeman and Alex Barrows have been keeping standards high since Ben Moon's historic ascent of Rainshadow last month.

16 year-old William Bosi from Edinburgh was on a trip to Malham with fellow GB Junior Team members, where he managed a quick tick of the rarely repeated Transform (8c) 8c. Having previously redpointed routes up to 8b+, William is now keen to set his sights higher. Commenting on Transformer, he told UKC:

"I'm really psyched to do this route as it is an amazing line at one of my favourite crags. I feel like this is a huge stepping stone in my climbing because as the route has a font 8A boulder problem in the middle I now feel like I'm strong enough to do something really hard."

Just a few metres away and also on the Malham Catwalk, Jonathan Freeman from Kendal redpointed Raining Bats and Dogs (8c), an 8c with a fierce reputation which moves left out of the knee bar rest on Bat Route, before taking on a boulder problem traverse to join the sustained top wall of Rainshadow. Jonathan told UKC:

"The climbing on the top wall is some of the best at Malham on surprisingly good but spaced holds. The link from the knee bar rest to the top came relatively quickly, but from the ground (after climbing the initial 8b) a tricky clip on the traverse and a long move on the headwall stopped me for many sessions. I think this is the 4th ascent after Neil Mawson, Jordan Buys and Joe Cook and it felt the hardest of the other Yorkshire 8c's I've done."

Since climbing his first 9a Era Vella (9a) in Spain this April (UKC News Report), Sheffield's Alex Barrows has also been busy with redpoints of Bat Route 8c, Cry Freedom (8c) 8c & Progress (8c+) 8c+ at Kilnsey. Commenting in his blog, Alex wrote:

"First up was the classic and popular Bat Route (8c), which features a wonderful series of tricky sections between good rests. Next on the list was Cry Freedom (8b+/c), which whilst perhaps not quite the same quality of line as Bat Route, has just as good climbing and features a fine excuse to gaffa-tape a piece of rubber to your leg."

Progress 8c+ is a power endurance-based route first climbed by Jerry Moffat on the brilliant North Buttress at Kilnsey. Hard sections of bouldery moves are interspersed with poor shakeouts. Alex summed up the route:

"It's ace in my opinion, really nice climbing and flows well."

Other significant repeats have been made by Steve Dunning and Adam Jeffs with further redpoint ascents of Cry Freedom 8b+.

Alex is sponsored by: Blox, Scarpa and Edelweiss

William is sponsored by: Wild Country