5 June 2017

9b by Steve McClure (45)

BMC reports that Steve McClure has done his long-term project in Malhalm, weighing in at 9b. Here is part of an article from 2015 describing him as a late bloomer, when we made a review of his autobiography - Beyond the Limits. Having trad climbed for 20 years, Steve started sport climbing when he was 24. At 26 he made his first 8a redpoint (in fact it was 8b) and within a year he went from 8a to 8c+. Two years later, in 1998, he made the FA of Mutation as an 9a but as nobody has repeated it yet, the community now considers it as perhaps 9a+. In fact, other than Jordan Buys (who repeated Rainshadow, 9a at Malham) the only person to have repeated any of his 9a's and harder FAs is Adam Ondra who already has said "The upper end of the grade for sure, 3 stars." for Overshadow 9a+. In fact, using the modern variation and link up thinking, Steve has done several more 9a's but just as a personal challenge as he wants all his routes to be of the highest quality.
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