Ryan Pasquill has climbed Rainshadow (9a) (9a) at Malham Cove , ending a protracted battle. He has been trying the route for several years now and came very close in 2015 after climbing through the crux and onto the headwall. Unfortunately for Ryan, he broke his ribs on a drunken escapade in which he cycled into a wall, putting a stop to that seasons' attempts.

Pre-empting any setbacks for this season, Ryan started early and began reacquainting himself with Rainshadow as soon as it was dry. He told UKC:

'It was my 6th week of trying this year and 12th session. The Redpoint for me was pretty all out as usual. The crux is pretty close to the limit of my power, so doing it after climbing Raindogs requires a bit of mental tenacity. I guess you could say this is one of my strengths, as I'm almost as weak as Steve (McClure).

'In the end it came down to one move. The last move of the crux is a blind dead point slap to a pocket crimp. After that the climbing gets a bit easier, but it's still 8a to the top with some pretty fluffable moves. But luckily on the day I kept it together and snuck to the chains. Nice to finally surpass my high point from three years ago'

Strong coffee ✔ Lucky belayer ✔ Rainshadow ✔ So good to watch Ryan climb Rainshadow yesterday. I have never been so invested in another person doing their project... yesterday I was happier than after doing any project of my own. There's a whole load of fight in those little biceps 😉💪❤ (📷 @tanya_meredith) . . . . . . . . . #malham #rainshadow #9a #fighter #climb #climbing #climbing_pictures_of_instagram

A post shared by Maddy Cope (@madeleine_cope) on May 2, 2018 at 12:42am PDT

Rainshadow is the stunning extension to Raindogs (8a) and was first climbed by Steve McClure in 2003. It was not until 2010 that it saw a repeat from none other than Adam Ondra. It has since had a number of ascents from the likes of Jordan Buys, Stu Littlefair, Ben Moon and Will Bosi.

Here's a video of Ben Moon climbing the route in 2015: