Jacob Cook climbing The Lizard King, gritstone E9 at Ilkley in England

In 2014 British climber Jacob Cook succeeded in the first ascent of The Lizard King, a daring gritstone climb at Ilkley in Yorkshire, England. The line starts up John Dunne’s masterpiece The New Statesman before traversing left past Ryan Pasquill’s Gerty Berwick and continuing more easily to the top. Were it to be bolted it would probably be in the region of French 8a+, but as it’s trad, with very little gear, this equates to E9 7a.

Cook, a trained mathematician, required fourth months of effort and immediately after the first ascent Cook, with typical British understatement, he commented "Someone can always repeat it and give it E6. That’s fine too!"

At present the route is still unrepeated and this video sums up so much of what cutting-edge gritstone climbing is all about.

Link: jacobclimbsthings.blogspot.com