Matt Helliker has made the first ascent of Race (E9 7a) at Carn Gloose, Cornwall, England.

The route is an extension to the 8A boulder Race Against Death (f8A), established by Solly Kemball Dorey in late 2020.

Speaking on Instagram, Helliker said:

'Technically I guess you could say it's the hardest trad route I've done, adding in the 8a/V11 boulder start to then move on up and left away from the safety of the pads and the raised block they're are sat on'.

'Next another committing boulder to the first gear placement, a small number 2 wire placed horizontally and a 0.3 Z4 in a broken quartz vein, which I can't say is bomber! I ripped off so many holds and feet working this thing that my trust in the rock above Race Against Death was definitely lacking'.

'I also chose not to sling the finishing hold of Race Against Death as honestly that would explode on impact and why damage a perfectly good boulder! So yes it's a bold undertaking above Race Against Death, that said it's brilliant, it's committing, it's a HYBRID'.

'About the grade, well to be honest I think it's all got a bit confusing so I honestly don't really know, all I can do is to draw on 25+ years of trad climbing experience and to be as transparent as possible about my experience and take a good guess'.

'If you dropped the second boulder without any gear the ground fall could be bad as you could miss the "floating" pads and crater into a bad landing, if the gear ripped, which is possible in the broken vein it would be death as the run out above is big and you would hit the ground, with all of this combined with the unpredictable nature of pillow lava rock and its snappiness and high tech moves, maybe this grade feels about right, but then also maybe not? The E grade could be more and could well also possibly be less in all honesty'.

'Thanks so much to Solly, it meant a lot to me for him to be there, holding my ropes, as I ran it out above his boulder. Kernow just keeps on giving, and will continue to give more….'

'Sorry for the terrible phone in a shoe low quality photo but that's all I got, and i'm not doing it again'.

The route is Helliker's third at E9, having made the first ascent of Anapanasati (E9 6c) at Doyden Point almost exactly a year ago, as well as an ascent of The Big Issue (E9 6c) at Bosherston Head in 2019.

Helliker also made an ascent of Combination (f8B), 8B, earlier in the month.