UKC

Back in August 2016, Alex Megos made the first ascent of Fight Club, 9b, in Banff National Park, near Canmore, Canada. Now there is a video. And an excellent video it is.

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In reply to UKC News:
Acephale, the crag where this route is located, is fairly close to but isn't actually in Banff National Park. It's on Heart Mountain, 4 or 5 miles east of Canmore which itself is east of the park boundary

In reply to UKC News:


I didn't think it was very good. The constant downward camera angle gave a very shortened perspective which meant it was quite hard to see what the climbing and moves were like.

In reply to Robert Durran:
I watched it before bed and actually had a dream I climbed it. So I think it was a bloody good vid, doubt anything else will get me up a 9b in any dimension, anywhere.

To be fair I then had another that I don't recall which resulted me thinking I woke up in a field naked. I actually woke up proper shouting 'where are my clothes!' with my belt in my hand (which was by the side of my bed). Not sure if this was related to the video though.

In reply to UKC News:

Any one know if "the top" (as shown being clipped in the video) was the top as originally bolted?
Although mostly out of shot, it sort of looks like where he finished has perhaps some chains of QD's to effectively lower the finishing point.

In reply to JLS:

I watched the video without sound so don't know if reference was made to this in it, but:

"In anticipation of Megos' visit to Canada, Canmore climber Sonnie Trotter extended the route higher up — doubling its length and increasing its difficulty."

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-rock-climbing-fight-club-1.37...

Or is that what prompted your question?

In reply to Fraser:

No, I didn't know that. Not what prompted the question. What prompted the question was that the lower-off arrangement didn't appear to be the usual two bolts side by side and the cameraman seemed to be making an effort to keep the lower-off out of shot. I got, perhaps a false impression, that perhaps the route continued higher and this "send" was only as far Alex had time to project. I was wondering if there was a continuation 9b+ still to be done...

In reply to Flashman:

Flashman - you are wildly incorrect. "Fight Club" is not at Acephale. It is located at Raven Crag, just above the Banff townsite. Fight Club is the arete immediately to the right of "Telltale Heart" at Raven. Trust me.

You are correct about where Acephale is located, but incorrect that Fight Club is at Acephale. He put up a 9a at Acephale on the same trip, called Full Nelson. News article: http://gripped.com/news/alex-megos-climbs-new-5-14d-acephale/

In reply to JLS:
JLS - the gig is this:

Mid 90's, Peter Arabic bolted the first 6 or 7 bolts up the arete at Raven crag. Many of us tried it over the years, but nobody could unlock three moves in the middle.

Megos arrived and quickly killed this first bit and called is 14b (8c) which I personally think is a deep sandbag of a grade...

Sonnie Trotter then added another 7 bolts of business above this. The full link became "Fight Club".

In the video, the bolts he is falling on and then sending is the full link. There isn't much rock above that which is worth climbing, so no, there is no 9b+ waiting....sorry.

In reply to Knut R.:

Thanks.