Alex Megos Flashes First Flight 5.14c at Acephale
Everywhere Alex Megos goes, he pushes the bar higher for local climbers. On Aug. 4, he flashed Josh Muller’s First Flight 5.14c at Acephale.
Muller made the first ascent in 2014, a few years after Lev Pinter bolted it, and said this after his send,
“I took this project on this summer hoping for a mega project but after a couple of very critical breaks I was forced to climb into it from the existing route to the left, Prime Time 5.14c. First Flight proved to be much more difficult than initially expected. I found myself maxing out on almost all of the moves.”
In 2015, Calgary crusher Zak McGurk made the second ascent. Megos likely made the third and sent it on his first go. He had previously sent Prime Time 5.14c, so his ascent does not count as an onsight.
He wrote the following after, “Did one of the last remaining hard routes here at Acephale First Flight 5.14c (8c+) on my first try. I knew the bottom of it from another climb but the upper two thirds were new. Super cool route. As well did the slabby 5.14a (8b+) called Ojas.
“If anybody ever onsights that thing, that’s at least as impressive as flashing 9a.” Megos has been in Canada for eight days and has climbed for seven and trained for one. Today (Aug. 5) he is working on a project at Raven’s Crag that he said will be 5.15.