UKC

Katy Whittaker - Limestone Dominatrix

© Tim Glasby
Katy Whittaker  © Jack Geldard 2009
Katy Whittaker
Jack Geldard, Jul 2009
© Jack Geldard 2009

Hard Sport Onsights for Katy Whittaker

On Monday 6th July Katy Whittaker onsighted two classic F7c sport routes at Kilnsey Crag, Yorkshire; Dominatrix and Biological Need.

Dominatrix is a 3 star, classic route, forging a line through the steepness on the left side of the impressive north buttress and was first climbed by Yorkshire duo Martin Berzins and Chris Sowden back in 1985.

Biological Need is another 3 star classic, taking a steep line up a central buttress of Kilnsey, passing a huge glued spike at the top roof. Biological has a hard move low down, near to the second bolt, that throws off many onsight attempts. It was first climbed by Mick Lovatt back in 1988.

Katy also had a good day on Sunday the 5th of July, redpointing I've Been A Bad Bad Boy (F7c+), at LPT, Llandudno, North Wales.

Onsighting F7c may not sound like a cutting edge achievement, with world super-stars churning out onsights of impossibly high numbers on a regular basis. However in British terms, there are only a small list of women who have redpointed F8a, and an even smaller list who have onsighted F7c on British soil.

Katy Whittaker on Rock Attrocity, V9, Parisella's Cave  © Tim Glasby
Katy Whittaker on Rock Attrocity, V9, Parisella's Cave
© Tim Glasby


Katy is Sponsored by Marmot, Five Ten, Hitch 'n' Hike, The Edge, Tendon, C.A.M.P and Lafarge

Thanks go to Martin Panton of Marmot for the photograph.


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I began climbing before I can even remember, it is just one of those things I have always done. Coming from a keen climbing family my brother and I had no choice in the matter! I grew up in the Peak District and the...

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9 Jul, 2009
great effort....i wonder how many UK 7c's get onsighted regularly by the blokes. i can usually pick up 1-2 onsight grades on the continent vs the UK, so i hope Katy has the chance to get some more friendly ticks in Spain and France etc.
9 Jul, 2009
amazing stuff - very inspirational.
9 Jul, 2009
Effort! Very impressive work. Andy F
9 Jul, 2009
My first thought was 'doesn't the leather catsuit make climbing difficult?', but then I read the article! Congrats to Katy, she's climbing at a standard I couldn't even aspire to achive!
9 Jul, 2009
Nice one Katy So who's on the list for female 7c onsights in the UK? I can think of a few abroad but in the UK and on sight they ain't many. Lucy C? Fliss?
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