Friend zone 8c+ trad (mix?) by William Moss (16)

William Moss has done Friend zone (8c+) in Gunks (NY). He sent it last autumn but it did not make a headline although he was just 16 years old. Thanks to the 8a forum, we just recently found out that it pretty much could be considered a trad route and as there are perhaps just a handful of such 8c+ out there. Here we go:

"It was really fun getting into trad over quarantine with my friend Carter who taught me. I always was better at long sport climbs since I naturally have more endurance than power but I’m not near a lot of bolted crags in NYC so once I saw the lifer film with Sam Elias sending Brozone I knew I had to try it. After sending Ozone and Brozone (8b+) it looked like the next obvious project. Took me two seasons and a lot of attempts but it’s my proudest line to date."

Could you tell us more about the bolts on the route?
Ya, there are three bolts on it (two of which I clip). The first bolt protects a v7 (7A+) boulder at the bottom of Brozone and the higher bolt protects some blank 5.12+ (7b'ish) climbing on Ozone. From the next piece above the last bolt, it is a v10+ (7C+) crux into the final 12d (7c) roof.

So should we call this one of the hardest trad routes in the world or just a super hard mixed route?
Well, it just depends on how you define trad and mixed route. Many ascents of Brozone have claimed it a trad route because of the fact that the cruxes are above gear which is, even more, the case on Friend Zone.