Max Milne has made the first ascent of a new Font 8B+ at Clash Farquhar in Aberdeenshire. He had been attempting the project since 2016, whilst keeping his main focus on competitions.

Max first looked at Lord Farquhar in 2016 after repeating Delirium (f8A) (8A) and had heard about the difficulty of the line: 'So I went straight over to it to see what all the hype was about. It was hard... so hard I couldn't pull on.

'In 2017, I had one session on it and maybe could pull on the first move for a second but I did the last move, so the dream was the born.'

Watch Spiral Out Pictures' film of the ascent here:

A year later, Max had two sessions back on the project, managing the top and bottom moves. Knowing it was possible, Max spent time training for the problem whilst waiting for weather windows: 'I came back the next week and struggled a bit with the hardest move, so I went off and put my headphones on and blasted some tunes, got psyched, then did the move in my jacket and hat! A few attempts after – it went!'

Max graded Lord Farquhar Font 8B+ and told UKC: 'I've been on a lot of hard stuff as I want to climb the hardest physically and mentally as I can. This boulder felt way harder than anything I've done or tried in the past.'

Currently, Max feels in better shape for routes and intends to try some longer climbs: 'I really want to get a 9a route done this year, so it will be a goal to try and get that done as fast as possible – although I've never even pulled on one!'

Max is a junior competition climber from Aberdeen and is in his third year competing for Team GB. He has achieved some fantastic results in the past year, the highlight being a 4th place in the European Youth Boulder Cup.