UKC

Evolution (8c+) repeated by the ever young Ben Moon. Yorkshire 9a apparently...

Andy F

Yeah I'm not sure how many ascents in total it has had but I don't think it's that many. Far fewer than the Mecca extensions seem to get.

Pete Dawson also did it about a week or so ago.

From Ben's Instagram:

Super psyched to final redpoint this really hard Jerry Moffatt test piece from the 90s at my local crag Ravens Tor. Only gets 8c+ but I don’t think there is a grade difference between this route and Rainshadow 9a. It’s a classic Ravens Tor route, only 10m long but basically sustained bouldering all the way. Probably hard Font 8a into hard route 8b with no rests and a heartbreak dyno to finish. It’s a great end to the year for me which has been one of the best of the past 35 years climbing. Racked up another 15 days on Northern Lights and although I didn’t quite make it came very close. Northern Lights is another level to routes like Evolution or Rainshadow and I’m sure one day will be recognised as 9a+. I feel in great shape for my age and looking forward to renewing my battle with this route again next year. Still learning about climbing and training even after all these years and most importantly still enjoying myself. Didn’t get a video of the whole ascent today but got the important bit!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqkgmd_AYsM/

Rainshadow seems like the soft 9a, at least compared to Steve's Kilnsey routes and particularly Mutation.

A hard 8c+ and a soft 9a will surely feel very similar in difficulty? Ben's a legend but does he understand grading.  

Interesting comment from Ben. Has it been done by anyone except Steve, Ondra and Megos? Ondra mentioned the grade was stiff, but didn't mention 9a+ and he's not usually shy in this regard. Megos only usually comments when the status of Action Direct is under threat.

Harder to tick than some other 9a because it's always wet. If it was in condition more often, Ben would surely have done it already. But interesting he considers it's worth a plus.

Unrepeated in 20 years, hard to believe. I think even Steve suggested it might be 9a+ and he's pretty conservative in his grading. I'd expect it to get an upgrade at some point. 

I’ve just built a Moonboard in my garage, but I think that’s about as close as I’ll ever get to emulating ‘young’ Ben. What an outstanding effort.

Exactly right.

Indeed and then you have to wonder about Overshadow which seems a grade harder than those. Ondra did both Kilnsey routes (Northern Lights and North Star) really quickly but took maybe 7? days to do Overshadow. But then Alex Megos took longer to do Northern Lights than he typically does on many euro 9a+'s. But he didn't suggest an upgrade.

I think he's had plenty of dry days on it though, far more than he spent on Rainshadow.

I seem to recall that North Star was the route that Steve thought could be 9a+. Still a bit of an unknown quantity. I don't think anyone has tried it since Ondra's quick second ascent many years ago.

I understand that when Steve first did it he didn't really know what 9a or 9a+ was so just graded it 9a as it was harder than what he'd done before. I believe Alex Megos who tried it for a second time recently (albeit briefly) was suggesting 9a+. Both he and Will Bosi did Evolution with ease (3rd tries) yet still haven't done Mutation.

Will's comment earlier this year show's how hard it must be:

"Finally the redpointing journey has begun for Mutation. This route is the hardest one I’ve ever worked on, taking three sessions just to figured out the crux. "

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiNK9-TjBNy/

Fantastic effort by Steve all those years ago.

"Finally the redpointing journey has begun for Mutation. This route is the hardest one I’ve ever worked on, taking three sessions just to figured out the crux. "

So Will thinks it's harder than Overshadow then, which is hard 9a+.

Good to hear he's still after Northern Lights. Going to be quite the story if/when he does that.

jcm

I think stp brainwashed him