James Pearson makes second ascent of Immortal, North York Moors

• Sunday 21st January 2024

During a whistle-stop work-related trip to the UK, James Pearson made the second ascent of Franco Cookson’s North York Moors testpiece, Immortal, graded E11 7b by Franco.

Franco Cookson’s first ascent of Immortal on Maiden’s Bluff on the North York Moors coast was featured in Alastair Lee's Brit Rock film, Fall Theory. Having completed his long-term project, Cookson gave Immortal an eye-watering grade of E11 7b.

Although short-lived, Immortal featured some improbable moves on dirty ratty crimps high on the soft sandstone buff, the only protection coming from skyhooks; should those fail, a massive fall down the rest of the cliff and the steep earth embankment below towards the sea awaited the falling climber. Describing it as North York Moors’ hardest route, Franco was uncertain as to whether he would ever commit right up to the point he did.

After his first ascent Franco discussed the grade of Immortal saying, “The resultant climb is as physically hard as any of the safe outcrop E10 Trad routes in the UK, but with obvious far bigger consequences if you fail. It feels like more than a single step harder than these, but the boundaries between grades above E9 are so undefined and shifting all the time, it's impossible to say. This certainly feels like the wrong route to give any bigger number to – it's short and weird and whilst fully independent and great climbing, it's not a king line and on snappy rock. It's also a really risky route to grade. There are loads of variables that could easily change or turn out not to be as bad as I think, which would render it a bit easier, although still probably harder than E10? The hooks COULD hold, holds could change, someone might survive the fall etc. The fact remains though that it's hard AND really dangerous, in a way that I've not found anywhere else. I suppose only repeats will tell... The main thing however is that there's now a fantastically radge outing there, sitting and waiting for potential suitors, casting its murderous gaze out across the North Sea, laying down a hilarious gauntlet of death. If you want to go and find out a little bit about yourself, go have a look!”

Climber Magazine columnist James Pearson did just what Franco suggested and went to take a look – first in August of 2023. On Friday (January 19th), James – along with Steve McClure, Neil Gresham and Gus Hudgins – headed back for the day to Maiden’s Buff; their objective, Immortal.

Talking exclusively to Climber, James told us how the top of the route was covered in snow and a bitter wind was blowing across the crag they arrived. He then told us how the day unfolded and how his ascent went. He gives his thoughts on the skyhook placements he used, the sequence he used on the crux and how it helped being “tall”. James also talks about the quality of the rock, the route as a whole and how and why he was keen to try Franco’s Immortal.

James hasn’t however commented on the grade of Immortal and he declined to do so when we asked him about it. Grading of top-end trad routes, as both Franco suggested after his first ascent of Immortal and numerous climbers – James included - have also said after doing hard trad routes, is very difficult to assess. In this instance, however, James’ two-day ascent of Immortal is perhaps the biggest clue to the difficulties involved. Previously, James made the second ascent Tribe in October 2020 on his seventh lead attempt having worked the route for a number of days (click here for that report). By comparison, James spent 20 days over a couple of years working Bon Voyage and then had ten redpoint attempts before he was able to make the first ascent (click here for that report). Subsequently, James has suggested that Bon Voyage could be E12.

Leaving aside the issue of the grade of Immortal, James had a great time climbing it and has notched up another early ascent of a testpiece trad route. Also, Franco’s North York Moors route has had a second ascent.

Let’s turn finally then to James’ detailed comments about his second ascent:

“Yesterday I was able to climb Immortal on Maidens Bluff on the North Yorkshire coast. Made famous in last year‘s Brit Rock film festival, I’ve wanted to look at the route since Franco Cookson spoke so highly of it in that film. I was really impressed when Franco climbed the Meltdown [F9a in the Llanberis Slate Quarries] in 2022 and since Immortal was supposed to be one of his finest routes, and proudest first ascent, I was very interested to find out for myself what it might be like.

I visited the route for the first time in August last year, alone, just after climbing Parthian Shot. I got a good idea of what it might be like to climb, and ever since, I’ve been thinking about trying to return with some belayers and pads to try to climb it if ever my UK trad stars align.

Last week, Caro and I were over in the UK for a week between two events for The North Face. We were really lucky with the dry weather, but it was very cold, too cold really for the children to enjoy being outside. Luckily for me, I found a really great team to head up and try the route on the last day of our trip. Neil Gresham and Steve McClure need no introduction, they are two of the most experienced trad climbers in the UK, climbers I have always really looked up to, and they were both interested to see what this route might be like in the flesh. The final member of our team is my friend Gus Hudgins, who is one of the most optimistic and positive people I know, and his energy on what was a very difficult and complicated day was invaluable."

Continuing he said, “It had snowed a lot on the North York Moors, and was bitterly cold. The top of the roof was covered in snow and it was difficult to stay for more than a few minutes at the top of the cliff due to the howling wind. Luckily for us, the actual cliff was quite sheltered and as long as you kept moving, it was quite pleasant climbing conditions down on the wall. Whilst the route is technically quite close to the parking, it’s a bit of a logistical nightmare to get everything in place. Like Franco, I chose to use two ropes, and a lot of pads to protect the route, and ferrying enough pads across those fields, and then lowering them down to the ledge below the cliff was definitely hard work in the Arctic conditions."

Commenting about the route and the climbing he added, “The route itself is composed of a fairly straightforward beginning, then a really comfortable no-hand rest, five crimpy, hard moves (the crux), and a few other easier moves to finish. You place a pair of skyhooks from the rest on a 4 cm wide, slightly in-cut edge. Like Franco, I tensioned the skyhooks down to the floor with a third rope. Unfortunately, the rock on the route varies between being of medium quality (sandy), down towards very bad quality (crumbly and snappy). The best rock is fortunately found on the crux sequence, and whilst I don’t think those crimps would ever snap off, the rock is very soft, so much so that there is sand on the holds after every attempt. The footholds suffer especially badly from this and you can see all the changes after every try as they crumble.

The moves themselves in the crux are interesting, and there are several possible sequences. The original sequence from Franco felt a little less solid than the sequence I decided to use, which used all of the same holds, but with my opposite hands to how Franco climbed it. Steve and Neil both use a different sequence again, but from watching them I think it’s safe to say that the route is quite morpho. If you are tall like me, it’s definitely easier. They sacrificed their attempts and time on the route to give me the best chance possible and for that I am especially grateful.

“Despite the difficult weather conditions, I had a wonderful day up there. The situation of Maiden Bluff, high up on the bank overlooking the North Sea is pretty spectacular, but what made the day really special was everybody rallying together and having a good time. As a teenager, I had a poster of Neil Gresham, climbing Equilibrium in my bedroom, and Steve McClure is, well, he is Steve McClure. It’s obviously pretty cool to get to climb with some of your childhood heroes, but more importantly than that just like Gus, they are simply really great people. That makes all the difference on the day."

“Regarding the protection on the route. It’s always really hard to say how reliable skyhooks are.  The pair of equalised hooks on Immortal seems to be pretty good. I used 2 of the amazing Fierro Equip ‘lead rated’ skyhooks, which unlike regular skyhooks are designed to hold a lead fall. They would happily take body weight, and considering the crux is very close to the hooks, I’d be fairly confident in thinking they would hold a fall, but you just never know whether the rock underneath them is solid enough. I definitely didn’t consider the route to be a solo, but it wasn’t like I was climbing above a really good Friend.

Finally he said, “Risk assessment is something that Caroline and I discuss quite a lot, especially now we are parents. I think we would both agree that a route has to be “worth it” for us to justify even a small amount of danger. However, I think our criteria of what makes a route worth it might differ slightly. Objectively speaking, I can’t say that this is a “good” route; the rock is generally quite poor, the sequence is short, and it’s generally a lot of work for a small amount of climbing. However, for some reason, I really felt compelled to come back to climb it and thankfully for me, I always felt very comfortable on the movements. At the end of the day, I had a great time up there, and you can’t ask for any more than that.”