Franco Cookson and his Divine Moments of Truth at Kay Nest

Kay Nest is a tiny little sandstone crag in the Tripsdale valley North Yorkshire, England that shot to fame recently thanks to an extremely difficult - and dangerous - new route put up by 24-year-old British climber Franco Cookson. The 20m new route is called Divine Moments of Truth, is the free version of an old aid climb and comes in with a whopping grade of H10, where the lesser used H grade indicates that the ascent was headpoint, i.e. after having worked the moves on toprope first. H10 is the hardest headpoint grade Cookson has ever put forward - and the hardest so far in Britain - and as such deserves careful attention. For the record, Cookson placed all the gear on lead.

Franco, tell us about the route’s history. It’s an old aid route, right?
Correct. It was aided back in the 1960s I think. People have tried to free it over the last 30 years.

What got you hooked on this line?
I'm very keen for developing the climbing in the North York Moors. I was looking for something hard and bold (ideally a solo) that would give the North York Moors a mythically difficult climb. Once I removed the remaining bolts I thought it might be exactly that. The top crux is quite hard, extremely fingery and as a solo it would have been mind-bending.

There is however some gear low down, including a skyhook…
Indeed, I found some protection that made it less difficult than I thought it was going to be. The protection is okay, but directional (in the wrong direction!). It's hard to say whether this would hold. This is backed up by the smallest micro tricam. You'd be very close to the ground from high up even if it did hold. The skyhook is lovely! It's in a little iron pocket. I don't know about how good this is - it would be hilarious if you fell on that and it held…

Talking of which, did you ever fall during on lead attempts?
No! That would be a seriously bad idea.

You gave it a Headpoint grade. Can you tell us why?
The E grade system is used for climbing without beta. At the upper-end of trad grades people have started using H grades to describe headpoint experiences. This is going to - and already does- cause real confusion in the crossover grades E5 - E8. But the H grade is simple, you just grade your experience, not some hypothetical ground-up without beta.

So for the benefit of those who aren’t experts with the E and H grading systems: can the route be broken down into other difficulties
My friend Luke reckoned the crux on the top headwall might be Font 7C - 8A. The main hold is really small. It's basically the only style of climbing I'm any good at, but no one else seems to be able to hold and then pull on it. But grades with this kind of thing are fairly meaningless - it's a mind-altering pull in a wacky setting. And then of course the bottom boulder problem wall is a fine problem in its own right.

As you mentioned you’ve been highly active in the North York Moors. Can you give us some background info to previous hard routes you’ve climbed?
I've climbed a few really class lines in the Moors. Psykovsky's Sequins (H9 7a) is a steep mono-pulling climb that I soloed, but that has decent gear now. Sky Burial (H9 7a) is fairly easy, but slightly loose and a total death solo - the day I climbed that I was really quite unhinged. Infinity in a Grain of Sand (H8 6c) is a fairly poor route, but with some lovely moves and a complete suicide run again. Fly Agaric (H8 7a) has perhaps my favourite move. It's only about 8 metres long, but the dyno is fantastic. The first route I ever headpointed is more traditional, with balancy arête moves and poor gear - The Hypocrisy of Moose (H8 6c). The grades are approximate and don't really matter!

Franco, a few years ago took a 20m ground fall and miraculously survived. Did that change the way you view and do things in any way?
It probably made me bolder. I know what I live for now and I know I'd risk everything to climb the lines that inspire me.