This week's Friday Night Video features Steve McClure making the second ascent of Neil Gresham's Olympiad (8b) (E10 6c/8b) at Shrinkle Haven, Pembroke. Opting to take a different approach to Neil, who climbed the route as an 8b deep water solo, Steve placed gear for a grade of E10 6c.
Steve climbed this route during an impressive summer, during which he also managed The Final Round (E9 6c), Do You Know Where Your Children Are? (E8 6c), a flash of Impact Day (E8 6c), and the second ascent of Lexicon (E11 7a).
Read Steve's account of Olympiad here:
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Return to Latest NewsSteve McClure is one of the best rock climbers in the world, having climbed the hardest sport route in the UK at 9b, numerous new routes at the grade of 9a and onsighted many at 8b+. Despite being better known for his...
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Having recently ticked his 1000th 8a, Steve McClure writes about what he feels is 'the magic grade'... 8a. THE magic grade. There's something special about the number, it has a certain ring to it and any route with an...
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Comments
really enjoyed this thanks. Any ideas why a single rope was used as it looks like a big zig in the rope, maybe the wire wanted to be pulled that way?
Yeah, I was a bit concerned by the big sideways pull on what looked like one crucial piece even through I knew the outcome.
He set off with two ropes and must have dropped one after the traverse in from the left and I guess he didn't want to set off with 3 ropes.
I'm sure Steve had assessed the placement carefully and was happy with it.
Sorry, I meant traverse in from the right.
I’ve climbed a fair amount with Steve and his usual traits of initial self doubt and then ability to turn it on is well portrayed in this film. To do it after a day and a bit practicing in greasy conditions and leading it first go is amazing.
It’s easy to shrug off anything Steve does because of his amazing sport accomplishments ie 9b redpoint (after a long siege) compared to 8b which is 6 grades less. However, I think it’s an interesting exercise to bring it down to a mortal level by taking ones own hardest redpoint and subtracting 6 grades (which in my case would be 7a+). By applying that would I be up for doing similarly intimidating and runout 7a+ route after the same level of practice which hadn’t been done on gear before and then having the commitment to get it first go because of a “conditions window”? My personal answer is no.
Also great achievement for Neil doing it DWS style in the first place.
Interesting comments. I honestly didn't expect to get this one though at the time, it felt HARD! The '6 grades thing' is hard to predict though too as I think it is different as the grades go up. For example, when I try and 8a (8 grades down from total max) I have to REALLY try hard and can for sure fail onsight. For a 7b redpointer, I doubt they have to try that hard on a 6a. An 8b could also even stop me on redpoint, but for a 7b redpointer, I'm sure a 6b would never be a stopper.