31/05/2009McHaffie Achieves a Mission Impossible

James McHaffie chose to take on Mission Impossible yesterday and showed it's not only Neil Carson, the original ascentionist, who is capable of this extraordinary effort. Originally graded a whopping E9 7a with a line of poorish pegs for protection, it hadn't seen a repeat since being first climbed in the mid-nineties.

Mission takes an impressive line up the overhanging and exposed Skyline Buttress situated on Gallt yr Ogof. Driving along the Ogwen Valley from Capel it is clearly seen as the obvious leaning dark (loses the sun after 11 am) wall at the top of the hill.

Jack Geldard had recently stirred up interest among the local 'strong boys' in this outstanding challenge by attempting the line and sorting out some trad gear placements to supplement the rusty knife-blade ironmongery. Jack wasn't wrong with his prescient blog post on May 6th about James' chances of repeating Mission Impossible. Nothing like a spot of healthy competition to up the ante.

Finding themselves at the crag together and after checking it out on a top rope Jack graciously let James have the first lead attempt. Placing the kit as he went James didn't need a second chance. James seemingly surprised himself at getting through the crux above a couple of equalised pegs and a Cam 0. If these rip it'd be a ground sweeping fall. Suddenly he had to dig deep to reach the top, wishing he'd made more of an effort to check out the sequence for the finishing moves.

James commented that he felt it was F8a+ in terms of technical difficulty warranting an overall grade of hard E8 or E9 6c. Big George Smith first looked at the line, tapping-in home-made pegs from Barrow shipyard to pull himself into the rock for inspection purposes.

Check out Jack's blog for a topo of the Skyline Buttress and more about James on UKC and the ascent here.

Photo: James McHaffie getting to grips with the crux on the first repeat of Mission Impossible E9 6c, Gallt yr Ogof Skyline Buttress, Ogwen. © Ray Wood

James McHaffie climbing Mission Impossible E9 7a from UKClimbing.com TV on Vimeo.