Craig Matheson climbs Hard Cheese, cutting edge trad E10 at Bright Beck Cove, UK

After having endured a period of relative lull at the exploratory end of the game, hard and dangerous British trad climbing is currently enjoying an unprecedented renaissance period with established routes seeing more repeats and new E10’s being established at a faster rate than usual. Towards the end of May Craig Matheson made his important contribution by completing what has often been described as one of the "last great lines in the Lake District”: the steep, leaning open corner up at Bright Beck Cove in Langdale. Hard Cheese provides the equivalent of 8c climbing, but is protected by just one runner after the crux at 9m; the 41-year-old full-time engineer and father of two has suggested E10 7a, making it one of the hardest and neckiest in the country.

Craig when did you first start trying it and how did things go?
I first looked at Hard Cheese in 2015, but it wasn’t until 2017 that I started to actively try the line. Having climbed many of the established harder routes in the Lake District by the end of 2019 (such as If 6 was 9 and Welcome to the Cruel World) it was an obvious remaining challenge and something I wanted to focus my attentions on in 2020. Obviously due to coronavirus and national lockdowns this became problematic and the first ascent didn’t happen until May 2021.

Tell us about the crux and the climbing. And how did you go about it
The hardest climbing is just below the only runner at 9m. I had top roped the line numerous times placing this runner as I climbed, but it had a tendency to not sit in the placement correctly. I therefore opted to preplace the runner for the first ascent. The route is 13m high, but the hard climbing finishes at 10m on a ledge. The runner protects the final move and you are certainly thankful to clip it at that point!

That sounds pretty dangerous...
Climbing at heights above 5m (even with pads below you) is inherently dangerous and there is a very real risk of physical injury. There is also no guarantee on Hard Cheese that you’ll even land on the pads if you come off! So risk is present from start to finish, but if you’re thinking about that whilst climbing, then you’re not ready for the lead.

Did you ever fall while on the live end of the rope?
Yes, I took a number of falls from the route, some I got away with and some I didn’t. I had a bad fall and was really lucky not to be airlifted out. I try not to dwell on this, but the pads are only good if you land on them! I suppose it’s all part of the Hard Cheese experience ;-)

What other hard trad routes or sport climbs have you done prior to this?
My background tends to be in trad climbing and I have climbed numerous E8’s and E9’s. I’ve sport climbed up to f8b+, but Hard Cheese proved to be far more difficult - hence the proposed E10/f8c for the climbing standard. It’s certainly the hardest climb I’ve ever done.

Links: craigmatheson.com, OCUN