by Mick Ryan Jordan Buys Jordan Buys, 25 of Burnley, Lancashire, has made a fine ascent of John Dunne´s Carmen Picasso (originally given E9 6c) at the remote moorland crag of Upper Gorple, near Widdop in West Yorkshire (Where´s Gorple? click here) Jordan, originally from Paarl in South Africa, but now a British citizen and a member of the British Bouldering team is no stranger to hard climbing, he´s climbed sport 8b and has a fine pedigree of bold gritstone ascents, both repeats and first ascents. He´s repeated Dunne´s Ilkley testpieces, New Statesman, which Jordan thought E9, and the bold and technical Countdown To Disaster E8 6b, and did the first ascent of Boomerang E8 at Egerton Quarry in Lancashire (Where´s Egerton Quarry? click here) Carmen Picasso has had several repeats by Dave MacLeod, Ben Bransby (flash ascent) and Dave Sutcliffe. Jordan and his wife Naomi walked the 2 miles across moorland to Upper Gorple and when there Naomi abbed the route placing the top wire, a marginal DMM Peenut 2. Jordan then, without having been on the route or seen anyone do the moves, climbed it in one push. He did have a scary moment a couple of moves above the wire where a fall would more than likey rip the Peenut and end up in a deck-out.The best ascent so far of this route, and as near as damn it climbed onsight. Some will argue that pre-placed gear negates the pure onsight for a gear route, but of course that is open to discussion. Comparing this ascent with his other hard repeats he thought the route E8 for him. In conversation with John Dunne yesterday Jordan was discussing how standards have risen in the last few years, with grades settling and quick ascents of high number grit routes, both John and Jordan put it down to the high number of climbing walls in the UK, more competitions and more emphasis on bouldering which is giving a new generation of younger climbers the skill and fitness to repeat what were once the cutting edge. Jordan Buys is sponsored by Boreal and Entre-Prises.
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