11 year-old Guildford-based climber Toby Roberts has ticked Revelations (8b) 8b at Raven Tor (Miller's Dale), just one year after redpointing his first 8a - the classic Raindogs (8a) at Malham Cove​.

Taking a break from competitions after winning the BMC Youth Climbing Series and the European Youth Color Festival in Imst in June, Toby set his sights on a hard outdoor project, which he found in Revelations.

Renowned for being a reach-dependent route, Toby had to figure out a sequence to suit his diminutive stature. Writing in his blog, Toby explained:

'I had been told that the route was really ‘heightist’ with a tough 7C boulder problem at the beginning of the route being particularly hard using the normal beta. The rest of the route included a big undercut move onto a mono and into the bottom of the groove with a knee-bar rest. I then needed to move to the top of the groove and traverse right a few moves pulling onto the technical slab at the top of the route to the belay.

'Apparently Revelations is a 7c route on top of a 7C boulder problem, although I think my sequence used twice the number of moves through the crux (five hand movements and six foot movements). Two of these moves felt really desperate with terrible feet and I needed everything to go perfectly to stick the moves.'

Making the most of his half-term holiday, Toby stayed in Tideswell with his Dad to dedicate himself to working the climb, fuelled by his favourite food - Mum's homemade banana cake:

'After a few more sessions making sure I knew every move I took two days' rest to try and make sure I was at maximum strength, then for the first time got through the crux on the Saturday. I then came back on the Sunday and on my 3rd attempt of the day I completed my project.'

Toby's Dad, Tristian, commented:

'By the time he had been lowered he said he wanted to continue into Rage 8b!'

Toby is now looking for harder projects, after being inspired by witnessing William Bosi's recent ascent of Hubble 9a:

'I saw William Bosi climb it and thought I would love to give it a go and you can never set your heights too high.'

Visit Toby's blog.

Toby is sponsored by: Craggy Island, La Sportiva and Lyon Outdoor