UKC

In this week's Ticklist, Rob talks to Franco Cookson for an insight on his latest masterpiece: The Dewin Stone (9a+) - a contender for the world's hardest slab climb. We also take a look at the lastest climber to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Thanks for putting the time in with the interview, always cool to hear about it first hand and some good nuggets in there (didnt realise Franco had had a look at Cryptography!)

And what about this slab climbed by an Italian no so long ago ? Wasn’t it in the same grade range ?

We looked at that and Franco alludes to it in the video. It looks overhanging to us - the quickdraws and rope hang away from the wall. Perhaps the Europeans define a slab slightly differently?

edit: Franco’s actually posted an Instagram story about this today. Click before it’s gone! https://instagram.com/stories/francocookson/3225608478973656208?utm_source=...

Ok seen here too:

https://fanatic-climbing.com/alessandro-zeni-propose-cryptography-9b-en-dal...

… and yes the draws are hanging, so it’s more a wall than a slab: more continuous on fingers and less pure reliance on balance.