UKC

Alpinists David Lama and Dani Arnold have established a new route on the formidable Moose's Tooth in Alaska. Their new route—Bird of Prey—takes a striking path through the previously unclimbed headwall on the Tooth's east face.

"It's a logical line," Arnold told Rock and Ice. "We tried to climb the direct and easiest line to the top, but it was hard enough!"

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=68029

In reply to UKC News:

wow...as Rodney Dangerfield might say....the kid's all right.

In reply to UKC News:

amazing effort. such good style as well, rocking up, seeing it and doing it. no idea about Alaskan grades - what would this get in french alpine grades?

In reply to d508934:

Dur Putain+

In reply to d508934:

Alaska grade VI climbs would mostly (all?) be in the ED-EX range. For a point of reference, the most famous hard Alaskan climb, the Cassin Ridge, is a Grade V. Routes like the Slovak Direct, Infinite Spur, Moonlight Buttress etc. are Grade VI.

In reply to UKC News:

What does '90 degrees' mean as a grade?

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Ice angle I think?

In reply to AJM:

IS that a normal grade? It doesn't seem very useful. Or is all 90 degree ice the same difficulty as all other 90 degree ice? I wouldn't have thought so.

jcm

In reply to UKC News:

jeez, can't imagine that was a very comfy bivvy on that face.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Yes you'd have thought saying WI5/6 would have been more useful?

In reply to UKC News: I thought the whole point of putting up a mixed-rock-ice-aid-solo-free route was you get to give it about a dozen different grades including a few from a new system that exists only in your own head and then snicker at everyone else who spends ages trying to figure out just how hard your climb is/is not in comparison to all the existing lines.
If I was skillful and fearless enough to put up a line like this, I certainly wouldn't miss the opportunity

In reply to Epsilon:

I think there is a world of difference in doing the Slovak and the Moonflower, even if you go to the top of Hunter. To my mind the Slovak is a much, much bigger tick.

Giving overall grades to these sort of routes is fairly nonsensical.

To JCM: 90 degree ice means vertical ice. It makes sense to me as a grade.

HTH

In reply to UKC News:

Top effort by Lama/Arnold, really happy to see the chap's got it right at the end as he's grown up. It's really inspiring to see someone that basically was an indoor comp climber to make it into the big mountains

In reply to Ramon Marin:

He climbed a new route on Cerro Kishtwar last year, a peak that was a pretty big deal for British alpinists 20 years ago.

Amid lots of utter crap being talked at the Piolets d'Or in Courmayeur last month, he gave a very humble and honest account of his climb of Cerro Torre and summed up the bolting episode with "I didn't know what I was doing." Pity some of the journalists present lacked that clarity.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

hmmm, I'd have thought the type of ice, thickness etc will be fairly important!