First 5.14 at Index Goes on Gear at 5.14aR
Watch William Moss make the first gear ascent of En Passant on the Lower Town Wall
In 2019, Nathan Hadley made the first free ascent of En Passant in the centre of Index’s Lower Town Wall. Hadley’s pitch was the first 5.14 at Index, one of America’s premiere climbing areas.
In 2022, top Gunks climber William Moss visited Index and climbed En Passant entirely on gear, skipping the two bolts that protected a run out. Moss graded the all-gear line 5.14aR. The meat of the climb is 25 moves of techy vertical granite bouldering clocking in around V10/11.
The top half of the route depends entirely on the reliability of a small 5 kN offset nut, which if fallen on would result in a 20-foot pendulum whipper (if the piece holds). “Doing this on trad was so much harder than sport and I kept falling lower,” Moss said on 8a.nu. “On the last day I went for it but after the rope tugged at the last micronut I got sketched and threw out right to finish up the fga of en passant rather than doing the last hard moves of the extension.”
Earlier this year, Moss made the first ascent of Best Things in Life Are Free 5.14dR at the Gunks. Read about the test-piece route here. Watch Moss take some big whippers on En Passant before sending it below.
En Passant 5.14aR
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