UKC

Simon Lorenzi has made the first ascent of the sit start to The Big Island at Coquibus Rumont in Fontainebleau, France, and has named it Soudain Seul. The project was an obvious challenge that started with Dave Graham's ascent of The Island (now considered 8B+) and then Vincent Pochon's The Big Island (8C) which added two obvious moves into the original. If the grade is confirmed, it could be the second Font 9A in the world.

No mention of the book though.

Yeah I had a double-take when I read that; using a book to 'lengthen your leg'! Ethics police will have a field day, surely.

It's in there.

Nick

Who authored the book!? I feel they should be acknowledged!
Clearly unethical otherwise.

The cheeky addition of the book helps this rise so far above the standard Hard Climber Climbs Hard Rock story. 

Any chance of a follow-up of some details on what sort of book? And would it help on your average E1?

Also, if UKC can source a sprinkling of entirely-disproportionate ethical beef, even better.

Thanks,
D. 

That's... hilarious. Notice the "leg-longer" wasn't shown or mentioned in his Instagram post!

Can we now just have arbitrarily thick knee pads and adjust our effective leg lengths as we see fit?

F.A. Simon Lorenzi 2021 (1pt of aid)

In all seriousness, if kneepads are allowed then surely making them a bit thicker again is fair game? It's not like e.g. sticking something on a ledge for a higher foothold.

Googling the name of the climb, is is a book by Isabelle Autissier, so presumably that's the book he used? But on Simon's instagram post he says "i was not use to kneebar so it was the most complicated part for me". He means he was not used to kneebarring? Or he didn't use the kneebar? So many questions from this armchair climber! Psyched to hear about this ascent though, truly a landmark.

should ascents with new shoes be discounted because the rubber is still too thick?

https://d2h1pu99sxkfvn.cloudfront.net/b0/7838626/489796381_Z2ozPqvuaS/P0.jp...

https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.pSUsl8bwhjqa0qLNtHobewHaLh&pid=Api

The only way a book would help me get up that is if it was thick enough to stand on it and reach the top

And does it depend how you use the book? 

A big flat book just makes your leg thicker (probably fine). 

A small thick book just above the knee then narrowing quickly gives an edge and homething to hook with (possibly not OK?). Does a hardback give you 'the edge'. (pun fully intended). 

Maybe we are about to enter a whole new era of different shaped knee pads. You could get packs of different shaped inserts to go under your pad. You could sell route specific shaped pads. I'm predicting 150+ comments on the ethics of knee pad modification. Go for it! 

I just think that if kneepads are in, then any sort should be OK. There will be natural limits; at some point any advantage for a good rest is going to be outweighed by having to carry the bloody thing to get to that point.