Dave Mason talks about King of Limbs Font 8b/+
- Saturday 11th July 2015
July 11th, 2015
A month ago David Mason added the considerable scalp of King of Limbs (Font 8b/+) in the Leopard Cave at Rocklands, South Africa to his CV. His ascent ended what had become one of Dave’s longest ‘projects’ and it’s clear that his ascent only came after considerable training effort/input. A short video featuring him on KOL has just been released.
David on King of Limbs (Font 8b/+). Photo: David Mason Collection
King of Limbs was first climbed by dark-horse Micky Page back in 2011. On the trip Page also climbed Golden Shadow and Black Eagle – both of which are Font 8b+. Page’s ascent of the later was the first since a hold was broken the previous year. Both these blocs were originally put up by bouldering legend Fred Nicole nearly a decade before. Page only succeeded however on King of Limbs after he’d extended his holiday and put his flights home back. At the time it was given Font 8b+/8c but subsequent repeats – including Dave Graham, Niccolo Ceria and Jan Hojer - utilised new beta and Font 8b was suggested.
Dave Mason first encountered KOL back in 2013. At that time he had a brief session on KOL but in his own words; “I was a country mile off the strength required for this boulder”. Dave targeted KOL as one of four problems he wanted to do during his subsequent trip in 2014. During that trip he worked KOL and although he managed the crucial moves he unfortunately injured a shoulder curtailing any further attempts.
As well as training specifically for KOL over the winter of 2014/15 David also repeated The Ace – click through here for our report. Returning to Rocklands on June 3rd David got stuck straight back into KOL – when the weather played ball! Balancing skin maintenance, weather and rest days, David repeated KOL on his fifth go on what was the hottest day of his trip.
David has blogged extensively on his repeat of KOL – read about his trials and tribulations by clicking through here to his blog – and whilst he’s clearly delighted at completing his project he’s still clearly unsure about the grade; “Whatever grade it is the process of climbing King of Limbs has been a fulfilling and rewarding one. From seeing it conceived in 2011, getting totally shut down in 2013, nearly tasting success in 2014 (or so I thought) and finally to putting time, money and hard work into climbing it in 2015 it has been an enriching experience that I will always cherish and remember.”
The video of David on King of Limbs is below: