Roberts (15) and Ibbertson (16) send Rainshadow 9a

Toby Roberts and Josh Ibbertson have done the classical Rainshadow 9a at Malham Cove. The excellent 35 meter route was put up by Steve McClure in 2003 and even Adam Ondra has said, "Honestly one of the best climbs I have done." Both Toby and Josh did Raindogs 8a, at age ten, which is the start of Rainshadow. Toby won the European Youth Boulder Championships and was 2nd in the European Youth Lead Championships in 2019.

"I broke my ankle in January and had worked really hard on my rehab and conditioning to be ready for the comp season." When the lockdown came, they built a Moonboard in the garden setting up Rainshadow as his goal. In October they started doing 10-hour roundtrips to Malham but the process was slow in the beginning. All in all, it took him some 20 sessions to send.

"As a climber, I think the most important thing to do is to climb. Climbing is about a lot more than being strong which can only take you so far. Footwork, hip flexibility, efficiency, reading sequences (particularly for comp climbing), improvising on the wall, making good decisions – everything improves with experience and repeatedly going through the process. For me, climbing has always been the most important part of training."

The 15-year-old's next goal is Hubble 9a (8c+) and then Rainman 9b, which has a different much harder finish than Rainshadow. In the long term perspective, he would like to compete in the Olympics. Long interview at Climber.co.uk and The BMC.co.uk. Toby's Insta has the full video of the send. More comments to follow from Josh and his father James (45), who did Bat route as his first 8c, the same day Toby sent his first 9a.