Climbs

Ben Moon:

Black Lung is probably one of the coolest problems I've ever done. It's made my year doing it.

Generally considered to be 9a/+.

The crux first move is 8B+ on it's own, with a tricky ~8Aish sequence still to do after you stick the start.

Mt. Kasagiyama, Ena, Gifu, Japan

Previously a project of Bernd Zangerl's.

Hubble is a route at Raven Tor in the UK's Peak District. Ben Moon made the first ascent of the full line in 1990 suggesting a grade of 8c+, making it the hardest route in the world at the time. It is now considered closer to 9a, making it both the first 8c+ and the first 9a!

The route is unusually bouldery and powerful with the meat of the difficulty being a short section on undercuts at the start of the route that is around 8B/+ as a boulder problem. The top of the route is roughly a 7c sport route so shouldn't present any issues for a climber capable of getting through the bottom, though Ben Moon famously fell off the top the first time he managed to climb through the boulder problem.

A kneebar on the crux undercut match move was first discovered around 2014 which apparently makes this move slightly easier. It was first successfully used by Mathew Wright on his ascent in 2020. This method has now been used on several successful ascents. So far, ascentionists using the kneebar method have suggested it doesn't significantly alter the overall difficulty with leg length being a crucial factor.

References

[1] https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Cai72J2Sn9BulGmXw7vYE

One of the first 9as established in the USA.

Considered the hardest of the 8B trio, with some today considering it 8B+. This didnt see a repeat for nearly 20 years until Alex Megos repeated it in 2016