Taylor and Kille make first repeats of Eternal Fall (E8/9) in Wales
- Friday 12th January 2024
James Taylor and Angus Kille have both repeated Mat Wright’s Ogwen highball/micro route Eternal Fall.
When he made the first ascent of Eternal Fall in September 2022 – click here for that report - Mat Wright was pretty chuffed; “I’m beyond excited to have made the first ascent of such an amazing project 😍🤯”.
Having made the first ascent of the spectacular, road-project Mat then had a problem with how to grade it given it was not only a massive highball but the landing was – in his words – “utterly atrocious”. Mat outlined his thinking for his proposed grading of E9 6c commenting; ‘Grading routes is hard, and this one especially is difficult to get your head around. If the landing was flat, it would fit nicely as a highball 7B+/7C boulder problem. But since the landing is pretty awful and I really couldn’t see it ever being safe, I figured that a trad/solo grade would be more appropriate. Everybody at the crag that day agreed and so we decided that E9 6c would be a good place to start. Future ascents will always determine the actual consensus of the grade - All I know is that it felt comparable difficulty to Achemine but a very different style and it was harder and bolder than any E8 I’ve done by a big margin.’
Mat compared the line to Simba’s Pride (E8 6b) at Burbage South in the Peak District saying, ‘Comparing this to many gritstone classics, it feels silly to propose a boulder grade since its situation makes for more of a solo, similar to 'Simba’s Pride but with a worse landing and Font 7C.’
James Taylor and Angus Kille both worked Eternal Fall on a top rope and then soloed it above a padded-out landing with spotters.
Writing on his Instagram page Angus Kille commented; 'It's like a highball boulder problem with a terrible landing (you can see Hazel and Tom trying to spot). Come off at the top and you might just end up riding down the waterfall. I don't know how you go about grading this sort of thing, but even with a tonne of pads, it felt sketchy! Good effort James Taylor for sending too.'
Accompanying his photo was a comment from Angus suggesting that the grade was Font 7B+/C and E8.
James also posted on his Instagram page but didn’t offer any specific thoughts about the grade saying, ‘I'm not accustomed to the highball/ small route style but the powerful fridge hugging nature of the moves really suited me. So with a few grades in hand, I was able to switch off and climb in relative comfort and have a very enjoyable experience, what it's all about for me.’
Whatever the grade, Eternal Fall is a spectacular addition to the north Wales canon of super bold highballs.