Nathan Phillips and Aidan Roberts send Trance (8C)

Aidan Roberts and Nathan Phillips have done the second and third ascents of Will Bosi’s Trance (8C) in the Peak District and Nathan comments. ”First boulder after turning 30. Life in the old dog yet. Chose not to top out. I decided if I was to top out it wouldn’t be for my self and only to appease other people.”

Can you tell us more about the boulder?
It climbs an extension of maybe upper end 8A into the hard part of Bewilderness (8B+) the crux being what is probably a 2 move 8B at the end after a lot of moves.

I starting trying last summer after I climbed Bewilderness and managed to do it in 2 halves but never had a real good go at the crux from the start. This year I climbed it on my 4th session. I hit all the holds perfect until the crux where I was slightly off but managed to pull through and do it.

What is the thing about the top out?
Basically the top out is chossy mud filled holds (easy climbing) and then you grab some trees to top out. If you watch Will’s video of it it’s super sketchy and in my eyes the obvious jug just below this part is a better place to finish and I didn’t want to risk the top out for no reason. Myself and a few others have finished on the jug without the top out for Bewilderness.