Neil Gresham has continued his Yorkshire new-routing mission with yet another addition to Kilnsey - Premonition 8b+. Premonition is a full-height extension to Ron Fawcett's Extreme Rock classic E5, Deja Vu (E5 6b). It follows Pete Gomersall and Ian Blakeley's 1973 aid line directly through the roof, with the exception of a slight deviation where it shares the final section of Freakshow and goes right into Mandela.

A new bolt on the lower wall now enables the middle section of Visitation to be linked to the upper groove of Deja Vu, thus taking the most direct line and avoiding the old threads apart from the first two at the bottom of Deja Vu.

Neil told UKC:

"I spotted a line of decrepit rusty old aid bolts going straight out from the back of the roof whilst working Freakshow 8c. It looked stupidly hard and I figured that no one else had tried it for obvious reasons, but on close inspection it revealed surprising holds. It was also really solid, so minimal cleaning was needed and certainly no glue. I was pretty surprised when it turned out to be slightly easier than Freakshow."

Describing the section of new climbing through the roof, Neil commented:

"There's a good rest ledge at the top of Deja Vu which reduces the pump factor, however the climbing in the first crux section is tricky. The initial part of the roof is roughly V8, involving a bouldery low-percentage throw from a flat-first joint undercut to a righthand sloper. However, depending on how fit you are the redpoint crux is probably still the upper part. After the heart-break of falling off the last move of Mandela when I was trying Freakshow, I vowed I wouldn't do this when trying Premonition, but again this proved to be famous last words! I actually dropped it at the lip then went to the pub for a brew and a 2 hour rest and came back and sent it on my next try."

Summing up his new line, Neil added:

"I guess it's a satisfying line as alongside Gaz Parry's Guns in the Sky 8b+, it's the only other route that goes straight out from the central part of the back of the roof. You could potentially straighten out the kink on Freakshow where it goes right, then back left but I think it would be a bit eliminate. When you're up there it seems to make sense to follow the obvious features. I like the fact that there's some history here too. I tried to track down big Ron to ask if he minded me replacing the first two threads on Deja Vu with bolts but he's something of an enigma these days and so the tats remain! Maybe a certain local old-school purist has kidnapped him, who knows."

Neil adds Premonition to a growing list of new routes which he has established this summer - Freakshow (8c) 8c (UKC News Report) and Straight Jacket (8b) 8a+ (UKC News Report).

Neil is sponsored by: Julbo, La Sportiva, Mule Bar, Petzl and Sherpa Adventure Gear