UKC

Nina Williams repeats Ambrosia, ~8A highball/solo

© Nayton Rosales

Nina Williams has made the first female ascent of Kevin Jorgeson's ~14m, ~8A highball/solo Ambrosia on the The Grandpa Peabody boulder at The Buttermilks, Bishop, California.

Nina Williams on Ambrosia, ~8A, Bishop  © Nayton Rosales
Nina Williams on Ambrosia, ~8A, Bishop
© Nayton Rosales

The problem/route was first climbed by Kevin in 2009 and hasn't seen more than a handful repeats (Honnold, Caldiero, Oddo, Verhoeven, Traversi) before Nina's. Among these ascents, Jorg Verhoeven's stands out a bit. He only used two crashpads.

Although the hardest climbing on Ambrosia comes relatively low, the moves up high are both powerful and comitting. Whether it's a highball or a solo I leave up to you to decide.

Nina's hardest boulder problem to date is Ray of light, ~8B, in Rocklands, and she is no stranger to highball's either with ascents of Evilution Direct, ~8A (FFA) and Footprints, ~7C+, both on the same boulder as Ambrosia, under her belt.

Nina Williams is sponsored by: adidas


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5 Mar, 2017
Given the height of 14m and the suggestion that it's as much a route as it is a boulder, what sort of sport grade would it get? I've got a grade convertor app on my phone that suggests 8c+, which is a hell of grade to solo.
5 Mar, 2017
I always thought that adding 3 increments usually gets you in the right ballpark, so 8A might be very roughly similar in difficulty to 8b+.
5 Mar, 2017
Worth noting that the top is relatively easy, so it's more like doing an 8A boulder problem in to a 7c route. Still, hardly a bad effort!
6 Mar, 2017
Jesus that's high! I would assume someone attempting this problem would take a red-point stile approach and practice on top-rope first?
6 Mar, 2017
Great effort. This problem/route always gives me the heebie-geebies when I see it! Edit: Sonnie T's ascent here (@5:38m) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzsFZ6H_pn0 Jorgeson's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErrKT2xv-Jw ... and Oddo's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5z3qOfS6lw
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