See Wicked Spindrift on The Wild Thing in Rockies

Watch as Jon Walsh works upwards through spindrift on the first pitch of The Wild Thing on east face of Mount Chephren in the Rockies as Jonny Simms films.

Sims and Walsh had completed a rare ascent of The Wild Thing over 10 years ago, making the probable first free ascent of the route. The two climbed the 1,300-metre mixed climb in a 44-hour round trip at M7 WI5.

The classic alpine route was first climbed in 1987 by Peter Arbic, Barry Blanchard, and Ward Robinson, after four previous attempts by Blanchard. The first ascent took three days and was graded 5.10 A3 WI4, with a crux rock corner that consumed most of a day. Read a story about the first ascent here. The dangerous route has turned many top climbers around.

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@tom__livingstone on the start of The Wild Thing just before we went the wrong way *mostly my fault i had the photo to look at* we ended up taking too long to correct our selves. So were stuck inbetween two big gullys when the sun hit the face both of which we really didnt want to be in when it was that hot incase some snow mushrooms or avalanches came from above . We sat and waited for hours in a safe spot but the temps stayed really high, so whilst doing lots of nervous looking up bailed back down the first gully which we decided had the least threat from above. Sometimes conditions and weather make you fail but on this occasion we failed because we fucked up. @mountainequipment @scarpa_uk @tisoonline

A post shared by Uisdean Hawthorn (@uisdeanhawthorn) on Mar 25, 2019 at 6:50am PDT

The Wild Thing