5 October 2021
Batman 9a/+ by Joshua Ibbertson (17)
Joshua Ibbertson, who made his first 8a headlines at age 10 doing two 8a's, has done Batman 9a/+ at Malham. The was the 17-year-old's third 9a and harder and all of them with Steve McClure as the FA. (c) Marsha Balaeva
"Batman is hands down one of the coolest routes Iโve ever done. The sequence is just awesome. There are lots of deep drop knees and interesting body positions. I was inspired to try this route after I did Rainshadow last year. I got pretty close in the spring when I got on it after lockdown, but in the end it got too hot. I realised that I needed to work on my power endurance so that I would have enough left in the tank for the final boulder problem. So during the Summer, I got on lots of routes that would help with this.
Getting back on the route a few weeks ago I felt Iโd made massive progress, especially my power-endurance. I was able to consistently have good burns into the crux. The send go was a really great experience, everything came together nicely. The route flowed well; the conditions were good. It ended up being much less of a fight than I expected. The crux, where Iโd been spat of lots of times before felt so different! After Iโd got through that it was just a matter of staying relaxed on the headwall. By comparison, the climbing is not as hard, but itโs still droppable if you lose concentration or are pumped out of your mind! This season has been so much fun, climbing with family and friends โฆtrying hard, sharing beta, cheering each other on, having the crag banterโฆfor me thatโs itโs what itโs all about."
"Batman is hands down one of the coolest routes Iโve ever done. The sequence is just awesome. There are lots of deep drop knees and interesting body positions. I was inspired to try this route after I did Rainshadow last year. I got pretty close in the spring when I got on it after lockdown, but in the end it got too hot. I realised that I needed to work on my power endurance so that I would have enough left in the tank for the final boulder problem. So during the Summer, I got on lots of routes that would help with this.
Getting back on the route a few weeks ago I felt Iโd made massive progress, especially my power-endurance. I was able to consistently have good burns into the crux. The send go was a really great experience, everything came together nicely. The route flowed well; the conditions were good. It ended up being much less of a fight than I expected. The crux, where Iโd been spat of lots of times before felt so different! After Iโd got through that it was just a matter of staying relaxed on the headwall. By comparison, the climbing is not as hard, but itโs still droppable if you lose concentration or are pumped out of your mind! This season has been so much fun, climbing with family and friends โฆtrying hard, sharing beta, cheering each other on, having the crag banterโฆfor me thatโs itโs what itโs all about."
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