Steve McClure does his 1,000th 5.13b & Nathaniel Coleman does ‘Defying Gravity’
Nathaniel Coleman does Defying Gravity
About a month ago, I wrote about Noah Wheeler’s quick third ascent of Defying Gravity, a problem that had been unrepeated since it was climbed by Daniel Woods in 2013 and Jimmy Webb in 2014. The problem largely revolves around one very hard, very low-percentage move that Wheeler thought was probably V14 on its own. Because it fit his style (dynamic Kilter Board-style power), he was able to stick that move after just three days of effort. He was working it alongside Nathaniel Coleman, Charlie Barron, and Austin Geimin. And this week, Mellow released a Ben Neilson video of Coleman trying and trying and—on his eighth day of effort—finally connecting with that move and sending the problem.
Maya Ene (13) and her father John Ene (49) do 5.14c’s on the same day
In late November and early December, 13-year-old crusher Maya Ene spent several days battling cold conditions on Mike Doyle’s Lucifer (5.14c) alongside Natalia Grossman and Annie Sanders. Sanders sent first, followed by Grossman (who also sent another 5.14c that trip). Then, on December 8, Ene clipped the chains, only to run over to Southern Smoke (a 5.14c Ene sent last April), so her father, Ionel “John” Ene, could take advantage of the good conditions. He sent too. It was the last day of their trip.
Maya Ene first made headlines two years ago, when she climbed her first 5.14a at age 11. This year she won Youth Nationals in her age group (Youth C). Her father, John, is a longtime climber (he competed in more than thirty World Cups in the 90s, took numerous podiums in the American Bouldering Series, and was 4th at Lead Nationals in 2004) who now owns a climbing gym in New Jersey.
Steve McClure does his 1,000th 8a—and this one has history
The legendary Steve McClure (an E11 climber and the father of the UK’s first 5.15b) keeps track of his climbs in notebooks, and he recently realized that he had done—wait for it—999 climbs graded 5.13b (8a) or harder. For his 1,000th route, he decided to do something interesting: he selected a climb called Let the Tribe Increase that used to be 5.13a but had been upgraded due to hold breaks. It was also a route that had been very important to his growth as a climber when he first sent it 30 years ago.
Speaking to Niall Grimes, the ever-joking host of the Jam Crack Podcast and frequent Climbing contributor, about the route in the Team BMC video (viewable below), McClure says that sending Let the Tribe Increase thirty years ago was something of a revelation to him—largely because it was hard for him, and he had to redpoint it. “At the time I had hardly redpointed anything,” he says.
But he sent it in a day, and this made him realize that it was below his limit. “I knew I had 8a in me,” he told Grimes. “Maybe not that day. Maybe years down the line. But I knew that I would climb one one day. And that was so exciting. This was the start.”
“You went on to do 8a?” says Grimes.
“I did. I went on to do 8a. And then another 998 of them.”
And now? Well, now that a few holds have broken and Let the Tribe Increase is considered 8a, McClure returned to the Rubicon Wall in the Peak District to make the route that started it all serve as his 1,000th 8a (or harder) send. “Its come full circle. It’s bookended the full journey.”
Fun fact: McClure skipped 5.13b and 5.13c. His first climb 8a or harder was an 8b—5.13d.
Zach Galla Sends Sleepwalker (V16)
Zach Galla continues the never-ending send train on Jimmy Webb’s Sleepwalker, sending it on his third session this year, seventh overall. “Still in disbelief this one came together the way it did,” he wrote on Instagram.
Though he’d been able to do all the moves fairly early in his projecting, Galla struggled making serious links. Then one day—on his seventh session—“the climb felt totally different.” Realizing that he was making progress, he decided to give a few attempts from the start, to benchmark himself and see if he could get the climb in overlapping halves. On his second try, however, he “managed to keep scaling and before I realized what had happened I was on the jug. By far the most surprised I’ve been topping something out!”
There was a moment earlier this year when it seemed as though the tall-man beta-break pioneered by 19-year-old Zander Waller (who suggested that the climb might be as easy as V14 to him) would change the boulder’s grade for others. But Galla, like other post-Waller ascentionists, seems to think V16 makes more sense for him. This is Galla’s second V16, after Grand Illusion, which he sent in 2021. He’s also done four V15s.
Alex Megos does 10 routes between 5.13d-and 5.14b in 10 hours—e-biking between them
It’s just good old fun.
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