Kevin Shields solos M10+ dry tool route at Birnam Quarry

by Mick Ryan Kevin Shields The Scottish climber Kevin Shields has soloed Fast & Furious an M10+ dry tooling route at Birnam Quarry near Dunkeld in Scotland. Dave Macleod writes at his blog: “If you haven?t heard of it, Fast & Furious is a dry tooling route in Birnam Quarry, climbing a huge slate cave, normally with the aid of about 10 bolts for protection! At M10+ it?s still tough piece of climbing in the field of dry tooling/sport mixed climbing. I climbed the route myself not long after it was opened and have since done it several times for training. Each time its difficulty never seems to diminish and still feels like the equivalent of around 8a rock climbing to me. But to solo a tooling route of this difficulty is quite remarkable.” Dave goes onto say that, “It was the most impressive piece of climbing news I?ve heard about in quite a while.” Kevin Shields has soloed up to E4 and is a talented ice/dry tooler but this achievement is not only impressive by itself but is more so as Kevin has no left hand and is only able to use an ice axe with a prosthetic attachment developed by Glasgow University Prosthetics Department and with support from Black Diamond. Read an interview with Kevin at at www.davemacleod.blogspot.com

QuelleUKClimbing