UKC

Hazel Findlay, James McHaffie and Neil Dyer have made the second ascent of Pre-Muir on El Capitain in Yosemite.




The route weighs in at 5.13c/d overall (around E8 in UK grades) has 33(ish) pitches and was first climbed by Justen Sjong and Rob Miller back in 2007 after several year's of...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67555

In reply to UKC News:

Great Effort - Hazels Blog is well worth a read.

by - Ian Patterson on - 23:37 Fri
In reply to UKC News:

Not really sure that e8 quite gets the right feel for this. At 33 pitches with multiple 5.13s including the 2 crux pitches at 5.13c and 5.13c/d climbing this clean in a single push is a great achievement for JM who must currently be one of the best climbers in country, in the case of HF its simply mindblowing.

In reply to Ian Patterson:

Probably not. I am waiting for more of a report from Caff and/or Hazel but I think they are in transit back from the States.

Alan

In reply to UKC News: Note the sponsorship section at the bottom, and nothing there for Neil!!!

In reply to Terry Walker:

Happy to add something but I am afraid that I don't know who Neil's sponsors are, or even if he has any.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax:

Neil doesn't have any sponsors (UK's strongest un-sponsored climber?)

Ben Bransby gave him a pair of boots so he could do the FA of Megaloupa at LPT last year, as he was previously climbing in a mismatched pair of boots with holes in!

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax: He doesn't need gear - just a rope to tie round his waist so he can climb 7b sport routes

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax: It would appear to me that Calum and Dans ascent is also worthy of a news item in its own right rather than just a mention in this one.

These two ascents are phenomenal and deserve equal billing. I am guessing that because Hazel has made such a good job reporting it on her blog, that this is why they got the news item? I look forward to hearing more from these guys when they get back to Wales.

Three of those five climbers are north wales based climbers, four if you include caff (although I am sure Cumbria will claim him as there owen!). To me it is simply amazing that a small area of the UK can produce so many good climbers.

Callum ascent is on the back of Divine Providence on Mt Blanc with another welsh Expat Miles.

If you do follow up this great news piece is there any chance of exploring the question of why so many climbers from Wales seem to be making a big impact at the moment?

A bit bl8ody tenuous that Mark - Dan lives in Sheffield and the Lakes most definitely produced Caff! Didn't he even move to the Peak a couple of winters ago to escape the grim Welsh winter?!

I spoke to Dan at the Works yesterday and he reckoned just 5 hard pitches on Golden Gate. So maybe not in the same league as PreMuir, but I agree, it's a brilliant effort considering they were only in the Valley a month, got on it straight away and nearly did it free in a day after their initial free ascent.

In reply to Tom Briggs: Tenuous? Maybe it is Tom.

Dan, Callum and Neil all grew up in Wales and I think the escaping the grim welsh winter was only a small part of Caffs move the Sheffield, he soon moved back!

Your right Pre Muir is more impressive, but given it is UK-climbing, and the current news items are of world news of bouldering repeats, a film of an ascent from last winter, film festival reports, lectures and other stuff other than notable ascents by british climbers it seems Callum and Dan have fallen foul of being moved to the sidelines in light of bigger news. Interstingly Mother teresa died on the same day as princess diana, and she was sidelined as well.

Like you say a brilliant effort by everyone, and I am sure UKC will run more on all these ascents as the guys return to blighty. It was just a thought I had.

In reply to Mark Reeves:

I would love to write about the major ascents in Yosemite this season but we don't have a resident Yosemite correspondent, so we need someone to send us the news report. In this case Hazel and Caff both got in touch. If Callum or anyone else gets in touch then I'd be happy to publish a report.

UKC has a News team of 2 and one of them is currently in the Himalayas which is why I am standing in as best I can but that does mean that we are a little stretched this month.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax:


Can I be the first to register my interest :p

In reply to Mark Reeves:

It's great to finally see Brits. doing free routes on El Cap. with some regularity. Both ascents are admirable but The PreMuir is a world class performance. It was a much-coveted second ascent of what is a very hard (13c/d) and sustained route. It was done in a single push, whereas the first ascent was worked for 2 and a half years.

Golden Gate is 13a and has nearly trade-route status now with ascents every season. It was very nearly on-sighted by Uli Steck (one fall only, on a wet 5.11 section on the Salathe) so whilst it is a great effort it is not quite in the same league as PreMuir.

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax: Hi ALan.

I kind of assumed that was the case. Don't get me wrong UKC do a sterling job, and you can only report on what you know!