Watch Pete Whittaker on Dynamics of Change First Ascent

Pete Whittaker makes the first ascent of Dynamics of Change E9.

The first ascent was in 2008, but Hot Aches Production has released a new video of the ascent. He graded the route E9 7a, which roughly translates to 5.13R.

Strong grit climber John Arran said about the first ascent:

“That’s a fantastic effort by Pete. I threw a rope on it last year to look at the possibility of a Braille Trail (BT) direct start and it seemed like it may be possible for someone, but it was way too hard for me that day.

“It’s technically at least two grades harder than BT and unless you’re able to reach left into the BT slot for gear you’d be looking at doing the crux of BT with a possible ground fall, which would make it definitely E9 and maybe harder. Even with the BT gear it’s still cutting-edge stuff.”