Climber Pops Pulley, Sends 5.14 Slab Anyway
Angus Kille has made the fourth ascent of one of the U.K.'s most technical off-vertical climbs
Top U.K. climber Angus Kille has made the fourth ascent of The Meltdown 5.14c/d at Twll Mawr in North Wales. During his redpoint of the technical slab, Kille injured a pulley, which you can watch below.
The route was established by Johnny Dawes back in the 1980s, and it was first climbed in 2012 by James McHaffie, and repeated by Ignacio Mulero in 2018 and Franko Cookson in 2022. After his second ascent, Mulero said, “The day I tried it with Caff and Johnny it blew my mind and I wanted to come back ever since then. Slippery slate slab, weird moves, perfect! There are not too many places in the world to climb on rock like slate.”
Twll Mawr, which translates to Big Hole, is home to many hard routes such as The Quarryman E8 7a and Coeur de Lion E8 7a and was first explored by Joe Brown and friends in the early 1970s. Kille started projecting The Meltdown earlier this spring and after nine sessions he could do all of the moves.
Kille has a long list of impressive sends to his name, including The Quarryman, Mission Impossible E9 7a and Esclatamaster 5.14d. Scroll down to see a video of McHaffie on The Meltdown.
McHaffie on The Meltdown
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