Miles Adamson tops Too Tall to Fall, huge highball at Bishop
A few days ago 26-year-old Miles Adamson from Canada established an important new highball on the Grandma Peabody at the Buttermilks in Bishop (USA). This huge boulder is not to be confused with the nearby, nigh namesake Grandpa Peabody that hosts the world-famous Ambrosia highball, first climbed by Kevin Jorgeson precisely a decade ago.
Adamson’s new line climbs Grandma’s central sail and takes the same start as Tiers of Uncertainty, a V12 line to date climbed only toprope by Dan Beall, but then trends left to avoid what "looks like overhanging cement" to join the arête at the top. Despite being two grades easier than its neighbour, Too Tall to Fall is, as the name suggests, a highball where tumbling off the V10 dicey crux almost 40 feet above the deck is out of the question.
26-year-old Adamson had envisaged the line on a trip to Bishop last year, while this season he managed the first ascent after about 5 toprope sessions. His previous highball ascents include Ambrosia and Footprints, both at Bishop, as well as the majority of the highballs in Squamish. In order to reduce the danger potential Adamson - much like Alex Honnold and all others who have followed suit on nearby Too Big to Flail - used around 30 crash pads.
Check out this great video for all the intricate details about the recent first ascent and also why the Canadian considers Tiers of Uncertainty the next level in bold highballing.