#27 Megos, Bridges and Hard Sport
A mix of ticks, unusual news, interesting tidbits and remastered classics...
A big week for Alex Megos
Alex Megos has been productive over the past week. Starting in Margalef, Spain, he repeated the route Mejorando Imagen that was first climbed by Ramón Julián Puigblanque in 2013. Unusually, Megos suggested an upgrade of the route from 9a to 9b!
A week later, he found himself in Fontainebleau and quickly busied himself at Cuvier Rempart. He climbed Super Tanker (Font 8B+) and Atrésie assis (f8A+), before heading down the hill and making a swift ascent of Le Dernier Fléau (Font 8C). He followed this up by linking the sit start of Le Dernier Fléau into Gourmandise (f8B) and suggested a grade of 8B+. To top the day off, he nipped up the classic Tristesse (f7C) (Font 7C) and Big Golden (f7C+) (Font 7C+).
Lucy Mitchell makes 8b/+ First Ascent of Waterfoot Wall project
Belfast-based Lucy Mitchell has made the first ascent of an 8b/+ project at Garron Point in County Antrim. In 2016, Lucy ticked her first 8b/+ in a day with an ascent of La Marroncita L1 + L2. One year later she ticked her first 8c, the classic Fish Eye, also at Oliana.
Ma Dooley - New E6 6b bridge crack in Sheffield by Tom Randall
Tom Randall has established a new bridge crack on Derek Dooley Bridge in Sheffield, which he's named Ma Dooley. It comes in at E6 6b and is possibly the 'best crack in South Yorkshire?!' according to Tom. He climbed the line ground-up, so the pure all-gear-placed on lead onsight remains...
Gin Palace is no more
Mountain Guide Tim Neill reported on his Instagram that the Craig Smith '80s testpiece Gin Palace (7c) has met its demise. There was rockfall in the area last November, but more recently the infamous chimney decided to fall down. Another one bites the dust.
Es Pontas Remastered
Reel Rock have released a remastered cut of Chris Sharma climbing Es Pontas, his 'king line' off the coast of Mallorca. Filmmaker Josh Lowell said: 'I always wanted to revisit the footage and do a cleaner, simpler, longer cut of the send. More of a historical record of the ascent rather than a dramatic end scene of a movie. So I recently dug back into the original media, stripped out the music, voice over, and some gratuitous cuts, and let the climbing footage play longer and more raw.'
The route was the final sequence in the film King Lines in 2008 and has only been repeated by Jernej Kruder and Jan Hojer.
Adam Ondra and Stefano Ghisolfi talk
Next up in Adam Ondra's series of talks with his contemporaries is a conversation with Stefano Ghisolfi. The pair discuss when they first met, early competitions, and the bolting and repeating of routes: