Steve McClure Climbs Britain’s Hardest, Rainman (9b/5.15b)
If this climb was one move longer, it would still be a dream… instead it’s the UK’s hardest-ever climb.
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Where is your limit? Would you recognize it? For Steve McClure it’s an endless series of matchstick edges and nothing holds, high above the Yorkshire Dales.
If this climb was one move longer, it would still be a dream… instead it’s the UK’s hardest-ever climb.
In 2017, British Mountaineering Council ambassador and top sport climber Steve McClure finally climbed his seven-year mega-project, Rainman, at Malham Cove, in Yorkshire, to give the UK its first-ever 9b (5.15b).
The route climbs up the classic Raindogs (8a/5.13b) then climbs the bulge into Rainshadow (9a/5.14d). After the crux of Rainshadow, which moves left onto better holds, Rainman blasts pretty much straight up to eventually join Bat Route. It does link existing routes but there’s a bunch of new climbing, too.
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Steve McClure, 46, Establishes the U.K.’s First 5.15b, Rainman
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VIDEO: Steve McClure Works Rainman (9b/5.15b) At Malham Cove