Mat Wright has climbed Serendipity (f8B+) (Font 8B+) at Impossible Roof near Roche Abbey. The problem was first climbed by Dan Varian as a sit start to Mike Adam's Serenity (8B). Mat climbed the stand back in February, which was his first 8B.
© Marsha Balaeva
Serendipity involves some outrageously thin undercuts through a steep roof. It adds around Font 8A of difficulty into the stand start. Mat describes the climb as 'very knacky' and found it essential to execute every move perfectly on each attempt. The crux was still a low percentage affair:
'I had a few sessions returning to the roof with some friends throughout the summer, I was feeling strong at the time and decided to start giving the additional moves of Serendipity a go. After some patience, I figured it out and was able to do it, but it was very low percentage. 18 sessions and 10 months later, I topped it out!'
© Marsha Balaeva
This tops off a fantastic year for Mat who also managed to climb his first 8c+: Evolution (8c+) at Raven Tor (Miller's Dale). Clearly at home on limestone, Mat's aim for next year is Ben Moon's Hubble (9a) and sees it as a 'logical next step.'
We'll almost certainly be hearing from Mat in 2020.
Below is a video of Mat climbing Serenity, the stand start to Serendipity:
Comments
Really impressive. Watched Mat warm up on my long term project at the Tor back in the summer. Strong and fit but also humble and down to earth. Really happy he's ticked his project too.