UKC

Following on from his incredibly productive weekend of climbing a few weeks ago, Ali Kennedy put another weekend to good use by ticking The Big Issue E9 6c at Bosherston Head, Pembroke. Ali made light work of the route, climbing it without in-situ or preplaced gear and succeeding on his second lead attempt after falling from the last hard move the previous day. Ali's ascent is comparable to that of World-class climber Yuji Hirayama, who also placed gear on lead successfully in 2014.

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In reply to UKC News:

Liked the route time line box with repeats and style of ascent.

Good source of info to have with this type of article and might flush out anything that is historically uncertain.

In reply to UKC News:
Not sure it wasn't comparable to Yuji's ascent. No fixed gear. Ali didn't want the convenience of stuck wires (that took us all of ten minutes to remove!) or pre-placed threads, which had possible gear slots available for those with the fitness to place it on lead. He was in it for the long haul, to do it properly but in the end made light work of it, leaving me with a very unfinished project, now with no threads or stuck wires. Thanks buddy!

In reply to Sash.C:

I don't get it. Couldn't you just abseil in and pre-place your gear if you so wish?

Well done to Ali. A great effort and nice to see something cleaned up a bit!

In reply to Michael Gordon:

You certainly could abseil in and pre-place gear if you so wished. You would, of course, be changing the route effectively into a sport route. The whole point of naming the route the Big Issue was to point out that it used trad gear for protection, rather than preplaced bolts.

In reply to UKC News:
Nice one Ali — seems like you've really found your groove down there in the southwest. Hope the time you spent in Catalunya made you realize how good a climber you are...

Regards to Tash.

Pete.

In reply to Sash.C:

I meant 'was' not 'wasn't'.

In reply to Michael... I just meant a new standard had been set for the route. A standard I'm unlikely to ever achieve. I offer my sincere apologies if that was confusing.

In reply to UKC News: Nice one Ali

In reply to UKC News:

Nice one. Looks incredible

In reply to UKC News:
What an inspring story. We bumped into Ali right after his ascent on our way to the big issue wall to do punksin the tearoom. No mention of his world class ascent, just said the wall was in good condition and to have fun. What a legend.