UKC

2nd Ascent of The Grand Illusion (Font 8C+) for Sean Bailey

© Sean Bailey Collection/Ben Neilson

Sean Bailey has made the 2nd ascent of Nathaniel Coleman's 'The Grand Illusion,' a Font 8C+ in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. The steep roof is a low start to Chris Sharma's Euro Roof and packs in 25 moves without a rest.

Rock and Ice report that the 24-year-old went on a rampage at the start of September, ticking off Ode to the Modern Man (Font 8B+), White Noise (his first Font 8C), and Box Therapy (his first Font 8C+). Clearly, Bailey is in the form of his life, managing to jump through the grades in such a short space of time.

Writing up his ascent on Instagram, Bailey explains that for him The Grand Illusion is comparable to a f9a+/9b route - an area he has experience in, having ticked three routes graded 9a+.

Nathaniel Coleman first climbed the problem in the summer of 2020. The ground was initially dug out underneath the boulder to add a substantial amount of climbing before reaching Sharma's Euro Roof. In total, it's roughly 30ft of climbing through a 70-degree roof.

Below is a video of Coleman and Drew Ruana battling for the first ascent:


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3 Nov, 2020

Any other famous boulders where something like that happened?

3 Nov, 2020

The pinned comment on this post gives the history of the development of the boulder, sounds like a block was moved to open up the low start. This is a pretty common occurrence in boulders in talus fields. https://www.instagram.com/p/CHGfRRuDwsq/?igshid=ckekc2ugm8qo

3 Nov, 2020

The whole of Craig-y-Longridge? Although, that excavation was done for a housing development rather than to add sit starts.

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