Robbie Phillips climbs perfect bridge crack in Edinburgh, Scotland

Adventure can reputedly be found in the most unexpected places. After taking a wrong turn the other day while going back to his car, Scotland’s Robbie Philips stumbled across a pristine roof crack under a bridge crossing the Union Canal in Edinburgh that looked too good to ignore.

Philips returned a few hours later with a friend, and Friends, to check out the crack but soon realised that these slipped out of the smooth concrete. After drumming up local support he pre-placed about a dozen red and yellow hexes later that evening, and on Saturday morning pulled off the first ascent. He avoided falling into the river, unlike his climbing partner who shortly afterwards discovered that the canal is actually surprisingly shallow.

"Never climbed a roof crack so sustained before. The best thing I’ve ever found, honestly" was the enthusiastic comment of the 29-year-old who has calibre first ascents to his name worldwide, as well as high end repeats including the Alpine Trilogy and an impressive attempt on El Capitan’s Magic Mushroom last autumn. The crack has been called The Troll Toll and crosses Meggetland New Bridge, with 4A being its reference number, not its grade. This checks in at E5 6b. For the moment it seems like there’s a new challenge to be found below one of the bridges in Edinburgh ;-)



Link: www.robbiephillips.co.uk, FB Robbie Phillips, IG Robbie Phillips, SCARPA