Tanya Meredith has climbed the The Traverse Of the Gods (8b+) at Craig y Longridge. The climb traverses the full length of the crag and is a renowned pumpy Lancashire testpiece.

Tanya has been climbing at Longridge and completing problems and links there for many years, but it was only recently that she committed herself to ticking the full traverse. She told UKC:

"I first visited Craig-y-Longridge in 2008, which is when I also first started climbing regularly. I'd see the best climbers in the area, like Ian (Vickers), cruising the traverse. At that time, completing the full thing was not even an idea on the horizon for me - I sport climbed around 6b and red-pointing 7a was a dream goal for me!

"Like many other climbers in the area, I just used the traverse for training fitness after work, for sport climbing. As my climbing progressed, I managed to get further and further along. In 2013, I climbed from the start to the high break which is a link generally considered to be French 8a+. That was the first time that I seriously entertained the thought of completing the full traverse."

Despite making good progress on the traverse in 2014, a setback came in the form of a nasty fall:

"The following year, when Longridge came into season again, I got a far point...before falling off the very end of the high break section (which is pretty high!) missing my mats, causing significant soft tissue damage to my knee and ankle, leaving me on crutches for a couple of weeks. I now had a big mental block when it came to feeling relaxed on the high break!"

This August, Tanya dedicated serious effort into completing the traverse, which ultimately paid-off with a quick tick:

"I made a mental commitment to being more tactical and getting comfortable on the high break. I started to do links on the end sections rather than from the start, as I already knew that bit very well. This gave me the belief and confidence that I could do the traverse but I never thought it'd go quite as smoothly as it did!

Summing up her feelings on finally achieving her long-term goal, Tanya commented:

"I've been shuffling along the traverse for some years now, so I'm really psyched that I was able to complete the the full thing!"

Tanya is sponsored by: Wild Country