UKC

Back in February Spanish climber Cecilia Buil made an ascent of Lipton, the classic grade 7 icefall at the popular ice climbing destination of Rjukan, Norway.

"The bulging rock wall juts behind me, blunting the swing of my tool, making every swing short and weak, every placement marginal. I'm scared. This is mentally, technically and physically harder than anything I have done before..."

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=66981

In reply to UKC News: By the sounds of her description, the crux would be a bit hard for me.....

Amazing effort!

In reply to UKC News: I'm normally not one to do the whole "is this news!?!?" thing, and understand that 'news' doesn't only equal 'hardest', but I was under the impression that Lipton gets quite a few ascents. Can anyone comment on whether this is or is not the case? I know it's not the first female ascent as I keep seeing an ad in Rock and Ice featuring an female American guide doing it.

Anyway well done to Buil for doing it and getting some good pics. Does anyone know if the Spanish TV piece is available online?

In reply to TobyA:

Id' have thought the same, someone I know has done it and didn't really say much.

Gets climbed frequently and the usual consensus is that its 6+, though this can obviously change. We got part way up the second pitch before I got scared and we went to the pub. And there is no-way any climb I did would ever be news-worthy in a million years!

Still, tough route, amazing situation so any ascent deserves some credit...

In reply to Saor Alba:

your mate gets a WI7 tick and doesnt say much?! whats his name Will Gadd?

In reply to UKC News:

Thought this was an article about Celia Bull.

Amazing ascent and deserves credit...Unless the climber themselves can climb WI7 I think there is no room for comments.

In reply to tom290483: Of course it would be a great thing to have done, but hard routes get done by lots of people we've not heard of Tom. It's the old dark horses argument. Look at the Norwegians themselves, they are terrible at blowing their own trumpets - and all power to them for that! I'm sure, say, Czech ice climbers could tell you which Czechs have done Lipton - its just we don't hear much about that scene, but then extrapolate outwards from that.

Climbing is in part wonderful because of the stories of dark horses that come out years later.

http://northernalpine.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

the guide you were talking about is Caroline George...This is her report and sounds pretty hairy.

In reply to Eärendel F.: oh wow! Although reading that she had to rest on gear, so I guess maybe might have made first female free ascent?

In reply to Eärendel F.: I can't climb E2, but I think I'd be entitled to comment that an ascent of Billy Whizz isn't newsworthy unless it was by a cat. But then I'm not a cat so that's me out again.

In reply to tom290483:

He climbs fairly well and is a guide and has done tonnes of other hard ice over the years. I'll have to ask him about but he stays in Chamonix now.

In reply to UKC News:

Lipton is never Wi7.

In reply to UKC News: I did it a few years back. It is hard for me to comment on how hard the second mixed pitch is as it was all ice. We just went up a curtain of vertical ice. On the same day Guy Lacelle soloed past us. It was definately a WI5 the day we did it but no harder.

In reply to stu maci:
Usual consensus for a route like Lipton? M7, WI5-WI7 is quite some range...
As always, ice grading is extremely condition dependent.

If I understand it correctly the ascent was from 2010, same year as the american female guide. My wild guess would be that the route had a handful tops a dozen of repeats that season. Lipton was unusually hard that season.
On the other hand when the curtain is full and touches the ground, it goes at WI5 and could easily have a handful repeats over a weekend. Might even be queing!

In the context of women and hard iceclimbing I find that this is newsworthy. Probably theres dozens of east & central europeans and french women whos capable of doing it but who knows?
Its for sure more newsworthy than an 8c sport route done by men. Must be over a thousand male climbers who climbed 8c sport.

In reply to DanielJ:

Well, even the M7 might be ditched.

And as always, it can depend a lot of conditions...

Crux 2nd pitch in dry conditions (as in mixed climb on trad... not the bolted direct M7).
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-USC4CQ2Hl0c/TXAPkR_0D9I/AAAAAAAABPs/_Sf1...

Reasonably fat conditions on the 2nd pitch.
http://www.spinphys.org/images/1/11/Lipton.jpg

Fat conditions (ie. climbing the direct M7 variation, but on WI5ish ice)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8649521@N04/2527205049/

And lastly, about normal conditions... So prolly WI6'ish and some mixed in between...
http://wspinanie.pl/serwis/200903/09rjukan_lipton.jpg

In reply to HeMa:

Yep - seems very conditions dependent

2 mates walked up it in 2007 and reckoned no more than WI6

In reply to TobyA:

Yeah I get that Toby, I didnt suggest that it needed be publicised in press or anything, merely that if a mate of mine, regardless of ability got to tick a WI7 he would no doubt discuss it a little. Whether its Jeff Mercier or the granny who lives next door its a decent tick.

In reply to tom290483:


Here are a few pictures I took of Jeff Mercier and partner doing Lipton last winter (in VERY lean conditions): http://www.flickr.com/photos/suneposselt/5489896230/in/set-7215762617597784...

In reply to supos:

That's all very well but have you got any of the granny next door doing it?

In reply to UKC News: I'm not really intrigued as to weather or not this news worthy as it is an excellent ascent and I did enjoy her write up, yet it appears that Ines Paperts new routes in Norway ( http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=39... ) including a new 250m WI7 climbed by others, appear to have been largely missed, far more interesting in the wide scope of things than a repeat ascent of what is now considered an overgraded route?

In reply to GrendeI: Ines Papert is a truly exceptional climber. Not "just" a good female climber.

As you have spilled the beans
http://eresfjord.no/eresfjord944_no/klatring_i_eresfjord/is_klatring/foreig...

Some amazing climbing coupled with likewise photos by Thomas Senf.

In reply to Flashy:

Duh! So did I!
Wondered why everyone was talking about a Spanish climber..

In reply to UKC News:

Come to Rjukan and try it, you can place a camelot size 3 or 2 on the crux and the icescrews are normally super solid. If there is an iceroute in the world that is safe to fall on, the crux pitch on Lipton is it.

Mikkel