UKC

Craig Matheson has made the first ascent of Hard Cheese (E10 7a) at Bright Beck Crag, Langdale. The route has been tried in the past by the likes of John Dunne but the overhanging groove held out until May when Craig made the first ascent.

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Good write-up and a stonking line! Interesting about the runner; I suspect many would've left a quickdraw on it if they'd already accepted having to have the gear in-situ.

Jesus H. Christ. The human fly doesn't even begin to describe what's going on here. I shake my head and return to thinking about getting up the next 6a at Westway, which now has holds on it the comparative size of barn doors. Whatever Craig Matheson is on I'd like a taste of it

Absolutely stunning - both the line and his ability to climb it. Must be one of the hardest Trad lines in the world. 

Utterly amazing. The future has landed!

Mick 

Another fantastic trad first. It’s great to see so many hard trad climbs being done in the lakes at a standard most of us can only dream of. 

Great write up and great effort. Well done!

incredible

Have you had a play on it Franco?

really enjoyed the write up, good effort Craig 

If it's 8c and very serious fall potential then few would quibble if Craig had gone for E11

Fabulous effort

Andy F

No, abed down it years ago but couldn't get into it. Phenomenal line and really blank, with a very hard landing too. It looked nails and pretty serious. 

I'm so pleased Craig's done it. Such an awesome effort and really unlike anything else in the UK. 

Top work Craig. Off the scale! 

Awesome write up. Love reading about the minutiae of what it takes to climb hard Trad routes.

Out of curiosity (perhaps I missed the explanation in the article), if the RP is so poor, so near the top and the only gear, why use it at all? Why not just climb the route as a high-ball boulder?

He says he opted for a hybrid approach. So for most of it the pads were the protection (which of course doesn't make it 'safe'), but if there's a chance the RP is going to hold then presumably he'd rather have it than not have it.

Loved reading that !  did I miss it or was there no mention of the route length ?

Either Lexion is graded wrong or this is. If Lexion IS E11 then this HAS to be E12. Though according to Birkett, E10 has to be certain death.

With clipping the runner, what happened to the old method of quickdraw gripped between the teeth?

BTW great effort!

That was a really good read, a window into the attention to detail required to make this sort of route doable and a hint at the training approach that underpins these efforts.

Why can't they both be E11? One soft (Lexicon), one hard (Hard Cheese)

Andy F

Maybe…

I don't think we can presume that the fall on Lexicon is safe just because it happened to be the one time it happened. 

Awesome stuff!

Although I'm waiting for it to come out that he ate an out-of-date Twix that had been stashed at the crag by Dave Birkett or something.

Or why highballs are given trad grades...

Why? Its been tested… Bar gear failing (unlikely) or an upside down fall and banging head.

The runner is just below the top so you'd have to climb nearly the whole route with the draw between your teeth?

Best not to scream then during the hairy ascent!

Think you'll find that if you fell off at the top, or near the top you'd miss the mats! There is a good ledge below the corner but it's not that wide!

Think you'll find that if you fell off at the top, or near the top you'd miss the mats! There is a good ledge below the corner but it's not that wide!