UKC

Eddie Barbour, Oxford University MC, Simba's Pride E8 6b

© Mark Tomlinson/Alex Barrows
On Sunday Eddie Barbour, librarian of Oxford University Mountaineering Club, soloed (after top rope practice) Simba's Pride E8 6b at Burbage South. This is possibly the third ascent after first ascensionist Toby Benham and Ben Cosey's recent solo (seen in the new Hot Aches film, Committed).

Sequence photos HERE

Mark Tomlinson reports,

"Eddie toproped the line two weeks ago in the wet a couple of times (he wanted to do it in a session) but conditions weren't good and it's pretty bold so didn't lead it. We went back Sunday and he toproped it a couple of times and then soloed it. He made it look very easy and didn't have to dyno at the top, just a bit of a slap. This is all the more impressive as he had eaten four bars of Morrisson's value chocolate that morning!"

Eddie Barbour is a climber from Belfast studying physics at Oxford University, where he is club librarian. He is no stranger to hard ascents including: The Rockafella (E7 6c), a first ascent at Fairhead in N. Ireland; Loskott and Two Smoking Barrels 8a+ (DWS), Diablo in Mallorca; End of the Affair (E8 6c) in a session on a day trip from Oxford, plus onsights of many E6s. This summer Eddie was filmed by Ethan Pringle's film crew (USA) climbing In the night every cat is black 8a, a DWS at Diablo in a pink dress!


This post has been read 20,410 times

Return to Latest News


5 Nov, 2007
Nice one Eddie you sicko - all that training at Transition paid off then1 :-)
5 Nov, 2007
One point of pedantry deserves another - I assume he's an undergraduate, and the club librarianship is an honorary position rather than a job. He was onsighting very impressively in Pembroke earlier this year.
5 Nov, 2007
We like to write colourful news reports at UKClimbing.com that sometimes go beyond just the climbing facts. Many readers like that, you know, adding a bit of background.
5 Nov, 2007
Also a welcome rebalancing of the public image of librarians everywhere.
5 Nov, 2007
At least he wasn't wearing his pink dress?
More Comments
Loading Notifications...
Facebook Twitter Copy Email