Bristol-based climber Wendy Coles has redpointed her first 8b with an ascent of No match for climb id:364702,"Eurofighter" at Rhossili Beach​ on the Gower Peninsula. Over the last few years, Wendy has slowly been working her way through multiple 8a and 8a+ routes in the UK and mainland Europe.

Wendy had been travelling to Shipwreck Cove over the summer to try an 8a+ called Airshow, the crux of which is part of Eurofighter. Commenting on Airshow, she told UKC:

"It's a long endurance route of great quality. It's very different to most UK sport climbing, and is reminiscent of climbing in Spain. To top it off the location is on a beautiful, sandy beach. I found the crux of Airshow really hard and fell off at that point a lot! The route is definitely not over when you do get through the crux either - as a lot of us found out!"

Having succeeded on Airshow and dialled the crux moves, Wendy opted to try the moves on Eurofighter 8b: 

"After the crux of Airshow, Eurofighter branches out right at the top to a more strenuous and hard finish. I decided to have a look at the moves and found that they suited me quite well so soon got sucked into another project. Completing Eurofighter happened much quicker than I had expected - I knew the crux of Airshow so well which meant I could climb half of the route really quickly and efficiently already."

She added:

"I was so pleased when I clipped the chains on Eurofighter - it was my last opportunity to visit Shipwreck Cove this year and I knew if I waited until next year I would have forgotten most of the moves!"

Read a UKC interview with Wendy about her status as a Bristol "Local Icon" by Georgia Townend.

View Wendy's UKC logbook here.