Hunger 9a by Hamish McArthur

Hamish McArthur has repeated Malcom Smith’s Hunger 9a at The Anvil. Last year, he was the Youth World Champion in both Lead and Boulder. In 2022, he has twice made the final in Lead and in Boulder, and he has placed in the top 20 on three occasions.

“For me, this trip to the Anvil was a marker that the very long competition season was finally coming to an end. I was tired of having to perform and felt the need to disappear into the woods for a few days. Both the place we camped and the route itself were beyond beautiful. The Anvil is this perfect 60-degree overhanging sheet of rock hiding itself in the forest by loch Goil. It's hard not to be inspired when looking up, especially as Hunger follows the perfect line straight up the middle of the overhang.

We arrived late afternoon on day 1, and climbed into the night with head torches. After a questionable night sleep suspended from tree, and a hearty bowl of Scottish oats I was ready to start redpointing. 3 times that morning I climbed through the first crux smoothly, and each time I dropped the 2nd crux by a hair. I unwillingly made myself rest for a good few hours, then in the early afternoon did some star-jumps and prepared for the send.

I set off much more relaxed this time, smiling on the rests and enjoying the anticipation of one again arriving at the 2nd crux. I told myself to squeeze harder, and thankfully I wanted it enough to scream my way through the hardest moves on the 4th redpoint attempt. The route was a joy to climb, and most importantly I feel refreshed and ready to put my head down to get strong over winter.”

How do you manage to combine comp climbing with rock climbing?
With where I'm at in my career, training and competing occupy the overwhelming majority of my time. Despite this, I am absolutely in love with outdoor climbing and definitely hear the rocks calling throughout the year. For the time being I use outdoor climbing as an escape from the intensity of competing. It reminds me there is so much more to climbing than just topping routes.