Watch Steve McClure on Britain’s First 5.15b

Watch a day out at Malham Cove with Steve McClure, including footage of him trying his recently climbed project, which he believes weighs in around 5.15b.

McClure worked on the steep line that links sections of other classic test-pieces on and off for a few seasons.

Very happy for British climbing legend Steve McClure to climb his longstanding project 'Rainman' (9b)! He once told me: 'there's always this one project you won't be able to finish', I'm glad this was not the one. Climbing 9b at 47 years must be inspiring to all of us, no? • Repost by @timglasby

A post shared by jorg verhoeven (@jorgverhoeven) on Jun 5, 2017 at 1:29pm PDT

After his send, he told planetmountain.com here, “Grading it is not easy either. I’m not qualified. I’ve not climbed 9b [5.15b] before. I’ve worked entirely on the theory that its harder than Overshadow, which I’m sure it is.

“Furthermore, Adam Ondra reckoned Overshadow was top 9a+ [5.15a], so it’s his fault if I get it wrong.”

McClure was raised in the North York Moors by parents who climbed. At 13 he was sending hard and run-out routes and has gone on to send a many 5.14ds and onsights of 5.14a. He excels at short burly routes to big walls, a great all-rounder.