Parthian Shot is a Dangerous UK Trad Climb
From broken bones to legendary repeats, this is one of the world's most iconic bold gear climbs
Parthian Shot was originally climbed by John Dunne in the late 1980s. Dunne didn’t believe the gear behind a flake found on the route would hold a fall. Eight years after the FA, Seb Grieve made the second ascent after taking some big falls. His ascent was featured in the famous gritstone film called Hard Grit, in which Niall Grimes said, “It held, that shipwreck of a flake actually held.” Watch his ascent below.
It was then climbed by Neil Bentley, Kevin Jorgeson ground-up, Tom Briggs, Alex Honnold, Toru Nakajima, Nic Sellars, David Lama and others. Then in 2011, the flake that Dunne was worried about broke when Will Stanhope took a fall. Stanhope suffered several injuries. It was then re-climbed by Ben Bransby at the grade of E10. Other climbers have sent it over the years, including Neil Mawson, Ben Cossey, David Lama, Siebe Vanhee and James Pearson.
After his ascent, Pearson said, “Obviously I have wanted this one for as long as I can remember. In the end managing to do a ‘direct’ version without the side-runner in Brook’s Crack, and still placing all the flake gear cluster on lead. Amazing feeling to be up there on that top slab. This one means a lot.”
Watch a few of the above mentioned ascents below.
Seb Grieve’s Ascent
Kevin Jorgenson’s Ascent
James Pearson’s Ascent
Ben Bransby’s Ascent
Siebe Vanhee’s Ascent
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