UKC

Bouldering News - Little Women Second Ascent & More

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Dan Varian has grabbed the second ascent of the boulder problem Little Women at Kentmere, Lake District. First climbed by John Gaskins, this hard problem has rebuffed attempts from many talented climbers.

Blogging on his Beastmaker Site, Dan said:

"...To me the crux of this is harder than any move on: Superman, The Ace, Voyager, Bloodsport, A Bigger Belly, and any foreign problem I've ever done a move on, it probably just doesn't suit me though and I didn't even need to diet or train too specifically. A big thanks to Gaskins for leaving such testing blocs which really make me push myself..."

Dan completed the problem by the standard start. There is an unrepeated right hand version also climbed by John Gaskins. Greg Chapman has a full report with photo on his LakesBloc site and commented:

"Dan has yet to comment on the grade but it is obvious, from the evidence so far, that Little Women must be around the Font 8B mark, if not harder?"

However after going back on the problem Dan sugested that hard Font 8A+ would be appropriate, and would keep the grade in line with other Gaskin's problems. Second time around Dan didn't find the moves too bad, and has also come extremely close to the harder RH start - watch this space.

You can see more photos on the Beastmaker Flickr account.


Liam Desroy has made the second ascent of Bonnie (Font 8A) in Parisella's Cave. The line was first climbed by Gaz Parry and is renowned for being "hard for the grade" according to some cave regulars.

More info and photos on NorthWalesBouldering.com


Mick Adams has made the third ascent of Superbloc and the second ascent of Soloman's Seal. Superbloc is the highball E8/Font 8A+ first climbed by Miles Gibson and recently repeated by Dan Varian. You can see photos in this UKC News Item.

Soloman's Seal is an 8A problem at Stanage.


Ned Feehally has climbed the three hard problems at Callerhues in a session. These include the third ascent of Eyes of Silence 7C+, second ascent of Smile 7C+ and second ascent of Time and Punishment 8A in very quick time.

Reported on Chris Doyle's Blog is a 8B+ repeat in Cresciano by British climber Micky Page. This is the fourth ascent of The Dagger. Micky Page is mentioned in this year's bouldering round-up on UKC by Tyler Landman.


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6 Jan, 2009
A busy time. Well done all.
6 Jan, 2009
Very impressive. Any video footage anywhere?
6 Jan, 2009
Good effort everyone
6 Jan, 2009
Apparently Mickey Page has also done Confessions 8B+. Impressive enough and a 5th ascent I believe but it gets better as he's supposed to have done it in a session. Truly amazing if this is correct.
6 Jan, 2009
This is Martin Keller on it - he did the 3rd ascent and the only others to have done it AFAIK are Dave Graham (FA), Nalle Hukkataival and Daniel Woods. http://www.flickr.com/photos/angiwagner/2474659388/in/photostream/
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