UKC

Impressive New Highball / Solo for Franco Cookson

© Si Litchfield

Franco Cookson has made the first ascent of a stunning highball line at Stoupe Brow in North Yorkshire. The route / boulder problem is now called MYXOMOP (E9 7a) and the UKC logbook description is:

Ultra- highball up barry's face, following the intricate groove. A sustained climb, with a lot of hard moves, some of which are out of the reach of pads.

Get off the E9 plateau: Franco Cookson on the FA of MYXOMOP (E9/8A?) at Stoupe Brow  © Si Litchfield
Get off the E9 plateau: Franco Cookson on the FA of MYXOMOP (E9/8A?) at Stoupe Brow
© Si Litchfield

Commenting on the route, Franco told UKC: "It is really good. Great day out with Luke, Si, Dave and Anna. That boulder has so many fantastic climbs on it now. Still one or two left go. I'm not proposing any grade for it. It is what it is. I'm crap at bouldering and most things I think are hard turn out to be easy."

He may be crap at bouldering, but this problem is mooted to be around Font 8A.

Franco is no stranger to new routing in North Yorkshire, and some of his unrepeated and often very bold climbs have seen some attention recently from Tom Randall.

Tom also tried this exact line at Stoupe Brow and commented on Facebook:

"Amazing effort from Franco Cookson. One of the best lines I've tried and some very beefy climbing on it.... I spent a few sessions on it and was absolutely sure of it being around E9 7a or you could bracket it in that "highball but really don't fall off at the top!" category. If I'd done this, I would rank it in the top 5 things I'd have ever done on grit/sandstone."

On the same day as Franco climbed MYXOMOP, he and friends went to Malyon Spout for another nice looking first ascent.

Dave Warburton on the FA of The Prow (7B+) at Malyon Spout  © Si Litchfield
Dave Warburton on the FA of The Prow (7B+) at Malyon Spout
© Si Litchfield

Franco commented: "We did this later in the day at a cool little boulder crag called Malyon Spout. It's circa font 7b+ [and there has been] a lot of effort from Dave Warburton on developing that place."


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12 Apr, 2016
Good effort Franco, looks ace
12 Apr, 2016
Good effort! Looks like one hell of a climb. No H grade however? *gets popcorn*
12 Apr, 2016
Wow, boulder looks awesome! Great effort!
12 Apr, 2016
That must be one of the best-looking boulders in the country, especially with such a flat landing. Right up there with the Bowderstone and the Calf. Nice one Franco.
12 Apr, 2016
I don't generally get that excited about bouldering there's no chance of me ever getting on but this looks not only properly hard but bold and up an inspiring line on what would be a crag in the Peak...
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