Ben Bransby

An incredible onsight effort. Ben fell off with a hand on top of the crag!

Ben watched Dave MacLeod top rope the route before flashing it with the gear in place. He then repeated the route placing all the gear on lead.

He found some extra gear that was not used on the first ascent and suggested it brought the grade down to E7/8.

https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/ben-bransby-flashes-e9-in-britain.html

References

[1] A record of ground-up and on-sight climbing on Peak, Yorkshire and Lancashire gritstone https://www.thebmc.co.uk/Download.aspx?id=139

After our extensive testing of the slider this turned into a pretty safe thing although I think Pete [Robins] saying E7 is possibly a little low (although it is Pete so what you would expect) Comparing to other E7 7as such as Little Woman and Groove is in the Heart (fell off the last move on wed) it felt very slightly easier, Fb7b+ rather than Fb7c?, but a fair bit bolder - both the above are very safe, lots of runners and short falls, the Promise has one ok runner and a ground sweeping (although quite short!) fall. We only felt happy taking the fall on the Promise after a few 'practice' falls from right by it and with 5 pads and a ladder below (I would have been happy with no or one pad on the sunday).

I think for James' ascent (not trusting the runner, no pads) you could probably add an E grade or two (I am sure with UKB grade SCIENCE we could work out how many exactly). [1]

[1] https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,10607.msg176038.html#msg176038

https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,11096.0.html

https://vimeo.com/35950595

3rd or 4th go!

https://vimeo.com/35875749

https://vimeo.com/37721688

Snowballed. Second ascent.

https://vimeo.com/63314131

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2013/05/long_hope_repeated_-_mchaffie_and_bransby-68088

https://youtu.be/aBdbUUzdvjg?t=4100

The first time the route had been re-climbed since the flake broke.

References

[1] https://twitter.com/dmmclimbing/status/402829127793016832

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2013/11/ben_bransby_climbs_parthian_shot-68542

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6r-McDgBc0

[4] Ben commenting on the style of his ascent, September 2023 https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/james_pearson_climbs_parthian_shot_e10_6c-763419?v=1#x9822066

When it came to reclimbing it after the first flake broke I did as James [Pearson] says - climbed the original line up Brooks crack, trav left and up. I placed a higher side runner in Brooks, I can't remember exactly where but I think it was a body length or so higher than where you trav out. My thinking was it would keep me off the ground if I fell off the crux and the flake broke, but from higher would be less help. My excuses where that from big trad/adventure routes you often wiggle 'off route' by a couple of meters to place gear, I was a bit more of a wimp (wife, kid, dogs etc), and I found the route hard (I'm not as good as James, Jacopo [Larcher] etc). I placed gear in the flake on lead but then did fall off the crux. The fall was less pleasant with the side runner as it did pull me right a little into the arete below rather than just into space/against the flat wall, but it was a lot better than hitting the deck. I left the gear in for the next go, when I did manage it, so although pre placed on the ascent it was only the 3 or 4 pieces that I had placed and equalised as best I could on lead...

https://twitter.com/dmmclimbing/status/448116087448956930

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvnGcCz2kDs

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgl6owWD1F_/

https://vimeo.com/775048098