Climbs

First climbed by Mark Leach after one of the most legendary sieges on Yorkshire limestone.

Originally 8b+, the route has been upgraded in recent guides, despite no holds having broken since the FA and an easier sequence than the original nails method on the top crux being found.

Originally given E8.

The first 8c+ in Norway.

First 9a route in Norway.

Around 2019 some pebbles broke on the crux holds making the problem slightly harder.

Previously called the Black 90 project a reference to Jade which was called the Green 45 project before it was climbed.

Around 8a+ to 8b difficulty wise, protected by pegs and small wires. The in-situ gear has changed since the first ascent:

Rhoslyn Frugtniet:

Today, however, the route feels quite different from what Neil, Caff, and Oli would have experienced. Tied-off and equalised bomber pegs now provide the majority of the protection, requiring very little necessary additional gear. Good cams at the bottom and top then cover the pegless sections of rock. [1]

James Taylor re-equipped the route in 2021:

Just a historical note. It has far fewer pegs now than it ever did. I replaced the top cluster of 4 pegs with two new ones and the cluster of 3 pegs that were just below that with 2 new ones. All the old pegs are in my mantlepiece. So 7 pegs were replaced with 4, two pairs of two, this was done in 2021 and now it's common to have the pairs equalised. I didn't replace the 5 lower pegs, 2 of which have now come out. The lower pegs are next to good gear and inconsequential to the route, just artifacts of Twid. [2]

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2026/07/mission_impossible_the_most_possible_e9_in_the_uk-74180

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/mission_impossible_the_most_possible_e9_in_the_uk-791770?v=1#x10157604

A psychological breakthrough hailed at the time as one of the most difficult routes in the UK. Whilst clearly a step-up from the Brown-Whillans era, with the benefit of hindsight, there were already a number of harder routes by the time of its first ascent. Nonetheless it possessed a considerable cachet until attaining trade-route status by the mid-1980s.

The Nose is one of the most monumental and iconic rock climbs in the world, taking the most prominent line up the middle of El Capitan.

Prior to its free ascent, it had a long and storied history as an aid route, still the most popular way up El Cap today. The free ascent was an obvious longstanding challenge, with sections were freed by many different people, not always formally recorded, before Lynn Hill's completely free ascent in 1991.

Much of the route is climbed by pitches from fairly moderate up to 5.12d. However, the burly Great Roof (5.13c/8a+) and notoriously technical Changing Corners (5.14a/8b+) pitches, both high on the route, have stopped even some of the best climbers.

The Stoveleg Cracks were first freed by Jim Bridwell in June 1967 after attempts in 1965 partnering Frank Sacherer, who originally conceived they might be climbable without aid.

In 1975 John Bachar, Dale Bard and Ron Kauk had climbed ~85% free, all but 120m, at ~5.11+.

In Spring 1980 Ray Jardine spent 4 months working the route, fixing ropes, managing to climb as far as the Great Roof free, but only after chipping four holds on the Jardine Traverse to avoid the King Swing pendulum. So far (as of 2025), all subsequent free ascents have taken this traverse.

In Fall 1990, Brooke Sandahl and Scott Franklin climbed all but four pitches free, the remaining aided sections were the Great Roof, the pitch above Camp 5, Changing Corners, and the final Harding bolt ladder. Working top-down, Sandahl freed the Harding bolt ladder in 1991 (5.12c/7b+) and, with Dave Schultz, freed the pitch above Camp 5 in 1992 (5.12d/7c). They prepared the route for a free ascent, including bolting a variation just to the left of the aid line on the Changing Corners pitch, but were unable to climb this.

Lynn Hill partnered by Simon Nadin, first free climbed the Great Roof on a ground-up attempt in 1993, but they were unable to completely free the Changing Corners by either the original line or the Sandahl/Schultz variation. All but ten feet of the route had now been free-climbed.

Hill and Sandahl joined forces later in the summer of 1993 and began working the Changing Corners pitch top-down, Sandahl focusing on his left-hand variation, Hill on the original aid line. Hill was able to climb all the moves on the latter, with two falls.

In September 1993, Hill made a completely free ascent of the route from the ground, leading all the hard pitches. She returned the following year to climb the whole route in a day – an astounding achievement.

Notable repeats include Keita Kurakami's rope solo, Sébastien Berthe's ground-up, and Connor Herson's rapid ascent in just nine and a half hours.

References

[1] https://alpinist.com/features/birds-eye-view/

[2] http://www.edhartouni.net/nose-in-a-day.html

[3] https://www.rayjardine.com/Papers/Magazine-Articles/index.php?StoryPage=7

[4] https://www.rayjardine.com/Avocations/Rock-Climbing/index.php

[5] https://climbingzine.com/brooke-sandahl-beginnings-freeing-nose/

[6] https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199404100/El-Capitans-Nose-Climbed-Free