Steve McClure breaks the 14th grade in Mexico

Quietly, and without much fuss, Britain´s Steve McClure has recently completed a new route ´In Rage´ on the Outrage Wall at El Potrero Chico, Mexico. In Rage is an extension to the excellent f7b (12b) Hurdy Gurdy Man, which was originally bolted by Kurt Smith, who encouraged Steve to have a go whilst he was visiting.After a strong attempt at onsighted the route, Steve´s first attempt at redpointing the route found him getting almost level with the belay when a hold broke, as Steve says: “I climbed through all the hard climbing to the last hard move from a small fin to a huge undercut tufa which, once you grab, as good as marks the end of the route (a few more feet on buckets). Anyway as I grabbed the tufa I ripped it off (way bigger than a football), and tried to hang on to the fin – which also came off”. This demolition has made the route even harder at the top. Steve was not deterred, and made another, this time successful, attempt.Steve modestly suggested the grade of 8b (13d), but Kurt, who had worked the line is adamant that it is 8b+ or even 8c, which would make it the first 5.14 in Mexico. The route itself is almost 60m long, making it one of longest pitches of its grade anywhere, and, Steve says: “Certainly one of the best routes I´ve ever done”. Whilst at El Potrero, Steve also came within a few moves of onsighting Camino Del Diablo (8a+/8b/13+), again failing after pulling off a loose hold, and onsighted an extension to ´Weeping Jesus (7c+/13a) at 8a/13b. The Outrage Wall, Scene of Mexico´s hardest sports route ´In Rage´

QuellePlanetFear