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NEWS: World's First D15 by Tom Ballard

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 UKC News 08 Feb 2016
Tom Ballard on A Line Above the Sky D15, 4 kbBritish climber and alpinist Tom Ballard has made the first ascent of what appears to be the hardest dry-tool line to date: A Line Above the Sky at Tomorrow's World, which he has graded D15. The route leads through an impressive roof on the flank of the highest peak in the Dolomites, Marmolada. Now there is a new gem in the crown of the Dolomites, taking over Robert Jasper's Ironman D14+ in Switzerland as the hardest dry-tool route in the world, if Tom's suggested grade of D15 is confirmed.

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 Cellinski 08 Feb 2016
In reply to UKC News:

The "taking over" part in the news is not fully accurate. At Eptingen, locals were successful on Iron Knight last autumn. This is another link-up in the cave which in direct comparison is considered to be harder than Ironman and was tentatively graded D14+/D15-.
 edinburgh_man 08 Feb 2016
In reply to Cellinski:

Is Bichette, at L’Usine, not also considered D14+/D15? It's had 5 or 6 repeats.
 The Pylon King 08 Feb 2016
In reply to edinburgh_man:

Is there a grading system for boxing gloves and rollerscates?
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 Smith42 08 Feb 2016
In reply to UKC News:

No fig 4s. Much purer style. Watching "climbers" fig4 up routes always leaves me baffled as to why bother. DTS is the way forward. Top effort, well done.
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 Lil_Pete 08 Feb 2016
In reply to UKC News:

Reminded of this quote from Ramon, about a previous hard Ballard ascent,

"By glorifying this ascents we only just giving justification to a whole of people that have got it wrong and spend all summer in a dank cave and comes winter they spend all their time pulling on plastic holds with their axes. It's madness."

It was a brilliant quotation because it reads as so disparaging towards him, but in context Ramon was giving so much credit and respect to Tom because his drytooling is a means to an end in the mountains!

DTS is weird, I could never imagine being that strong! I'd struggle getting out of a rag doll, 'rest' position.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=628685&v=1#x8175215
 Misha 08 Feb 2016
In reply to Lil_Pete:
Yes, Tom is hardly 'just a tooler', having done a fair bit in the Alps. I suspect he would achieve great things in Scottish winter climbing if he spent time over here in winter. Interesting that he didn't have much luck in comps - climbing hard outdoors is not good for your ability to climb indoors!
 luckyjim 08 Feb 2016
In reply to UKC News:
Tom was only a teenager when i used to climb with him in winter and he was cruising routes such as Piranha ,Stirling Bridge and Alien Abduction with ease using home made axes as well !
 bouldery bits 08 Feb 2016
In reply to Misha:

> climbing hard outdoors is not good for your ability to climb indoors!

That's why I'm so bad indoors!
 Michael Hood 08 Feb 2016
In reply to UKC News:

What does DTS stand for - Dry Tool what?

Why are fig4's considered bad if they make things easier? It sounds like it would be saying you can (rock) climb this but no high steps allowed.
 remus Global Crag Moderator 08 Feb 2016
In reply to Michael Hood:

My understanding is that some dry tooling techniques basically make things too easy. For example, with heel spurs, people were just resting their way up D13 onsights.

To keep the game interesting people started following a few rules. I don't know the full list, but some basics are no heel spurs and no legs on axes.

Somewhat arbitrary, but then so is everything else in climbing.
 Aly 09 Feb 2016
In reply to remus:
No matter how much I think about I'm still completely baffled by the idea that putting your leg between your head and your arm is the wrong side of some ethical threshold, but drilling holds in the rock to hang off with a big handle is fair game.

Yes climbing has a few arbitrary rules but in pretty much every other climbing-related discipline they're the complete opposite of this.

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In reply to Aly:

That's because dry tooling in general is utter bollocks. It's not difficult.

jcm
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 Michael Gordon 09 Feb 2016
In reply to Michael Hood:

> What does DTS stand for - Dry Tool what?

>

Dry Tool Style? (just a guess) But then the technique is only used in dry tooling anyway so something of a contradiction. That said, I'd be impressed (if perhaps rather worried) to see someone doing it winter climbing!
In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

> That's because dry tooling in general is utter bollocks. It's not difficult.

> jcm

One of the occasions when hitting the 'like' button just isn't enough.
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 Morgan Woods 09 Feb 2016
In reply to Aly:

Is this drilled or natural though?
 chrishedgehog 09 Feb 2016
In reply to UKC News:

Don't get it. The physical feat is very impressive of course but fingers and toes on rock; axes and crampons on snow and ice (aka wet-tooling?) will always make sense to me. Well done though!
 planetmarshall 09 Feb 2016
In reply to Aly:

> Yes climbing has a few arbitrary rules but in pretty much every other climbing-related discipline they're the complete opposite of this.

No, climbing does not have a "few arbitrary rules". It is *entirely* arbitrary. Which is one reason why I remain baffled by the opinions of people like jcm who think that their set of completely arbitrary rules about how to climb up a rock are somehow superior to Joe Bloggs Drytooler.

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 Cellinski 09 Feb 2016
In reply to Michael Hood:

Rock climbing would also be easier if you pulled on the gear... So when it's there and you have to use it anyway for protection, why shouldn't you use it for progression either. Well, one may argue that this rule is somewhat more logical or natural than to drytool without Fig 4's, but...

By the way, if you read the original post by Jeff Mercier, DTS is more than just to do without Fig 4's. He also suggests to drill less and shallower hooks, to bring the whole drytooling experience closer to real mixed climbing and not creating an exercise where the same movement (Fig 4's) is repeated over and over again.
 Misha 09 Feb 2016
In reply to Michael Hood:
DTS is Dry Tooling Style (it's an odd name given that dry tooling using fig 4s is still dry tooling but that's what Jeff Mercier etc came up with). The post above explains what it stands for, though normally when people say DTS they just mean not using fig 4/9 moves.

There is no 'rule' about whether or not you are 'allowed' to use fig 4s/9s. You can do whatever you like/prefer and that might depend on a particular route. Either way will be a generally acceptable ascent, including in competitions. However heel spurs and hooking your leg over an axe (as opposed to over your arm as in a fig 4/9) are out these days as you're basically getting a free rest.

In my experience (which admittedly only goes up to M11, so reasonably hard but a world away from M15), it's not as simple as saying that using fig 4s/9s makes a route easier. It depends on the route and what you prefer. I find sustained fig 4/9 action very tiring as you're basically putting your entire weight on one arm, so if I can DTS and get a foot on to take some weight off or better still get a heel hook, I will generally do that. However DTS often involves long, powerful moves which are hard on your core (probably better training for the real stuff!). So it can be easier in some ways but harder in others.
 FactorXXX 09 Feb 2016
In reply to Misha:

However heel spurs and hooking your leg over an axe (as opposed to over your arm as in a fig 4/9) are out these days as you're basically getting a free rest.

Bit like getting a knee bar rest in 'proper' climbing then...
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 Misha 09 Feb 2016
In reply to FactorXXX:
Knee bars are great if you can get them. There's an M12 at the Works where there's an upside down rest with your legs wedged in a slot and a few routes at White Goods which involve the same upside down rest off a heel/toe hook. I guess the difference is that it's a 'natural' rest which you can't create whenever you like.
 Andy Say 10 Feb 2016
In reply to Smith42:

> No fig 4s. Much purer style. Watching "climbers" fig4 up routes always leaves me baffled as to why bother. DTS is the way forward. Top effort, well done.

DTS is the way forward to where exactly?
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