Spanish climber Ignacio Mulero has made the first ascent of a 12-metre 8c+ trad crack line on a large granite boulder at La Pedriza in Spain, which he has named El boulder del pedal. The line ranks among the hardest trad routes in the world.

On Instagram, Ignacio shared:

'Among the trad projects that I have, perhaps this is the one I was most looking forward to!

Since I tried it last season, many days have gone by! Days of tearing my skin, days of not understanding much, a thousand changes of methods, breakages of key footholds, days of feeling good and not having the kit to be able to do it, endless waits on weekends for the hikers to finish their meals in the shade of the rock .....

A lot of good times on this little piece of rock! I'm even sorry I did it!'

At 8c+, the line ranks among the hardest trad lines in the world alongside Jacopo Larcher's Tribe (9a-9a+) and potentially James Pearson's latest FA, Bon Voyage, plus Connor Herson's trad repeat of the bolted Empath (9a+), Beth Rodden's Meltdown (8c+) and Ethan Pringle's Blackbeard's Tears (8c+).

An all-rounder, Ignacio adds this hard trad line to 9a sport ascents (including the first repeat of The Meltdown at Twll Mawr in 2018, [UKC News]), an 8C boulder (Entropía 8C) and multiple top-end ascents of lines involving specialist techniques such as cracks and bolted granite slabs up to 8c+.

According to his sponsor DMM, Ignacio averages 235 days of outdoor rock climbing a year and trains specifically outdoors for his hard redpoints.

More information to follow...