Sport Climbing

UK

OK then let's start with a run down of the sport climbing at home here in the UK. It only seemed like yesterday that sport climbing was new and exciting and everybody was binning their racks and getting into dogging. The crags, certainly those in the sport climbing belt of the UK (i.e. the Peaks, the Dales and North Wales) were hives of industry and the air was heavy with the whirr of cordless drills. New routes/classics of all grades were happening so quick that the mags could hardly report them fast enough. Ten to fifteen years on, sport climbing is now well established and here to stay but frankly it’s appears to have lost some of it’s popular appeal and for some of it’s former devotees it’s on the back-burner. They’ve been seduced by the siren-calls from the trad. lands and the boulders. It is, of course, fashion that dictates where the effort is expended and let’s face it sport climbing takes real effort and graft and maybe the effort and/or time commitment is too much for some. So you’d have to say that at present sport climbing isn’t the flavour of the month here in the UK today, it was once and chances are that it will be again, meanwhile only the dedicated disciples battle on.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that Steve McClure has been on his own at the sharp end of sport climbing on the home front during 2000, his domination of the cutting edge action even more noticeable with the likes of Carson, Moffatt, Moon and Smith either away or else concentrating on other things. Up for THE number one UK challenge, McClure took on Ben’s Project at Kilnsey early in 2000 and after 15 days of blood, sweat and lobs produced Northern Lights (9a). It immediately scooped the prize of top UK sport route, though McClure resisted the urge to grade it the speculated 9a+, preferring, with typical modesty, to grade it a ‘lowly’ 9a! Away from the heady heights of the ninth grade however, little new has been done of any significance this year, the effort seems to have been directed into repeating classic routes from yesteryear. Sadly, and despite considerable effort by a few folks, I can't think of anyone who’s done anything harder than F8b+ this year, excluding the aforementioned McClure of course.