UKC

Obsession Fatale E8 6c by Anna Taylor

© UKC News

20 year-old Anna Taylor has ticked Obsession Fatale (E8 6c) E8 6c, her first of the grade. The 10m 'ultra sketchy slab' was first climbed by Julian Lines in 1992 and involves some delicate moves near the top.

Anna on the teetery top moves of Obsession Fatale E8 6c.  © Neil Gresham
Anna on the teetery top moves of Obsession Fatale E8 6c.
© Neil Gresham

The route had been on Anna's to-do list for a year or so since she first heard of it. A fortuitous finger injury a couple of weeks ago brought the climb back into her thoughts. 'I could only really climb slabs, so it seemed like the perfect time to check it out,' she explained. 'I still wasn't sure whether or not I'd be able to climb it, but thankfully the holds on the hard section are monos and pebbles, so I could get away without using the bad finger at all.'

On Anna's first session, she climbed it cleanly while self-belaying after working out the moves. She commented: 'This made me think that I could probably go for the solo quite soon, but I had one more session on a top rope to get into the flow of the moves without having to pull rope up every few feet.'

Describing the line, Anna told UKC: 'The bottom section is almost misleadingly easy up until some good footholds at three-quarter height. From there to the top is the crux section, which is really balancy and insecure. It's also pretty committing as if you step off the footholds you can't really go back and you definitely want to avoid coming off the last few moves!'

Anna Taylor climbing Obsession Fatale E8 6c.  © Neil Gresham
Anna Taylor climbing Obsession Fatale E8 6c.
© Neil Gresham

On the day, Anna had two attempts at the solo. On her first attempt, she reached the rest footholds and couldn't make herself commit to the crux section due to the injury potential. 'After getting rescued, I took about 40 minutes to clear my head and tried again,' she explained. 'It was still pretty scary, but I knew as long as I kept my head together it was unlikely I'd fall off, and I really didn't want to walk away having not tried.'

Anna summed up:

'I'm really happy to have got the route done, as it feels like a step forward from routes I've done before, and it's definitely got me psyched for the grit season!'

Anna adds Obsession Fatale to her ascent of the bold and thin slab Scallop (E7 6b) E7 6b (solo) and the blunt arête Plain Sailing (E7 6b) E7 6b (lead) at Armathwaite.


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Anna is an up and coming British trad climber based in the Lake District. She has multiple climbs in the E6-E8 range on her CV and favours bold and often unprotectable climbs...

Anna's Athlete Page 10 posts 2 videos



19 Sep, 2018

Those mats look a very, very long way away...

19 Sep, 2018

Nice work, brings back memories.

19 Sep, 2018

Anna climbed Lenny Limpet E7 at Armathwaite rather than Scallop E7.

To my knowledge this being the second ascent of this fine slab.

Pete 

 

19 Sep, 2018

Also from the photos it looks like Anna may have used the undercut arch on her ascent of Plain Sailing, The route Sailing Shoes uses the arch but Plain Sailing doesn't as it goes up to the left of it and is not reachable if you stick to the blunt arete up which Plain Sailing goes?

19 Sep, 2018

I've led Sailing shoes which uses the overlapping arch, where it's possible to get some poor cams. I've only TR Plain Sailing, Mr Woodburn beat me to the first free ascent, but yes you do not use the arch on Plain Sailing but you could possibly reach across to place the poor cams in its left hand side - is maybe what Anna is doing in the photo??

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