Eddie Barbour after climbing Divided Years E8/9 6cUKC News© Eddie Barbour CollectionEddie Barbour, the Belfast based climber, has led one of Ireland's most demanding and famous trad routes. Divided Years tackles a severely overhanging prow in the Mourne Mountains, featuring hard but well protected climbing at a physical difficulty of around F8a+.Eddie headpointed the route and fell on his first lead attempt. The fall was held by a hand placed 'pecker' – a metal hook commonly used for aid climbing but becoming increasingly popular on very hard trad routes.Eddie placed the pecker as it was faster and less strenuous than placing a more conventional piece:”I think that definitely saved me a lot of time!” he said.Commenting on the grade, which is now settling around E8/9, Eddie said:”It's definitely a notch harder than any other E8's I've done, but E9 seems like a huge deal to me. I'd agree with Ricky [Bell] and give it a slash grade at the moment. When I've climbed a confirmed E9 I'll be more fit to judge!”Divided Years was first climbed by John Dunne back in 1995 who suggested a grade of E10 7a. It has previously seen repeats from Lakeland legend Dave Birkett, top Scottish climber Dave MacLeod and local climber Ricky Bell.Pecker Hooks© UKC News, Jun 2009Peckers have been quite in vogue on hard trad routes recently, being used on Trauma (E8) at Dinas Mot, The Walk of Life (E9/12) at Dyer's Lookout and on Divided Years.Eddie Barbour is sponsored byPODsacs Diesen Artikel inkl. Bilder auf UKClimbing.com anschauen
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