Climbs

To the right of Trieste. 8B into two hard, low percentage moves.

~8a+ on fiddly and not-amazing gear.

A long standing project that saw a lot of attention before finally succumbing to Simon Lorenzi after 25 days of work.

It's an 'old' project which has been tried long before The Island was opened in 2008. The roof, called "Toit du Nid d'Aigle" by foresters, had been identified as a futuristic project by climbers in 1973 and its sitstart had been tried since the late 1990s. [1]

The name comes from the title of a book that first ascentionist Simon Lorenzi borrowed from his girlfriend to place under his kneepad. [2]

References

[1] https://bleau.info/coquibus/306875.html

[2] Autissier, Isabelle. Soudain, seuls. France: Stock, 2015.

Originally climbed using yo-yo tactics it was later redpointed by Jean-Pierre Bouvier who renamed it Gandalf le Magicien claiming he had made the first real ascent, which did not sit very well with the local climbers of the time who viewed the frenchman's redpoint tactics as poor style. The new name and claim didn't stick.

Initially climbed with 2 bolts it has variously gained and lost bolts over the years, but now seems to have settled at 4.

References

[1] Peak Limestone North history supplement, page 49 https://www.thebmc.co.uk/Handlers/DownloadHandler.ashx?id=1291