by Jack Geldard – Editor – UKC John Dunne John Dunne was at Ilkley today and he witnessed Ryan Pasquill climb the wall to the left of The New Statesman. Here´s what he has to say: “The front face of the Cow has long beenconsidered the last great, unclimbed line on gritstone. The wall hasattracted the attention from some of the World´s top climbers for over20 years.I first tried the line in 1987 after making the firstascent of the New Statesman and have attempted the moves on manyoccasions over a 21 year period but was unable to succeed on the route.The wall has been tried many times by climbers including Steve McClure,James Pearson, Steve Dunning and Jerry Moffatt to name but a few. Mydedication to the route and the pedigree of the other climbers who havetried it demonstrates the quality and extreme difficulty of the route.Both Moffatt and Dunning thought it would never be climbed, makingRyan´s achievement even more impressive. At the start of the routea long dyno is followed by a move to very small edge, after this a hugerock-over takes you over to a small crimp. This is followed by a long moveto a good hold and finally easier climbing takes you to the top. Aftersplitting his finger last week high on the route Ryan returned today tofinish off the job. Ryan made the climbing look effortless and intypical Pascal fashion shrugged it off as no big deal. Having climbedfor almost 30 years this stands out as the most impressive piece ofclimbing I´ve seen.In the current climate of big numbersand sponsorship chasing, it´s really refreshing to see Ryan out therejust doing the business, totally in it for the love of climbing. Therewas a bunch of climbers out there today doing their stuff but one tookit a whole lot further. The experience felt raw and uncut.With an 8c+ under his belt and now the first ascent of this World class line the sky´s the limit for Ryan.As for the grade I think this is purely academic, but one thing´s for sure this is the hardest route on grit by a long way.Great effort Ryan!” John Dunne John Dunne runs the Manchester Climbing Centre (MCC). There´s lots going on at the MCC at the moment, including a Chris Sharma lecture and the BMC Leading Ladder.You can find out more in this UKC Premier Post.
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