BURSTAce trad climber James Pearson has repeated Master’s Crack (Crac yr Meistri) in the Nant Peris Quarry at the Llanberis Pass, first climbed by James McHaffie at a grade of E9. In an email to Gripped, Pearson said this about his send:
Although not as dangerous as some of the more famous E9’s in the UK, Crac yr Meistri combines thin, 8b slab climbing, with protection from small nuts and tiny friends. The slate in this quarry is notoriously softer than that in the larger, more famous Dinorwic Quarries on the other side of the valley, meaning the small protection, often placed from pumpy, and awkward positions, make for a very exciting pitch.
I found the route a lovely, interesting experience, which reminded me how intensely technical and bizarre climbing on slate can be! It’s a style you don’t see anywhere else, where the tiny (but often positive) holds and the glass like surface of the rock, find you constantly flip-flopping from ‘impossible move’, to ‘no-hands rest’. As I climbed it a little quicker than expected, and nothing had been planned in advance, there was sadly nobody there to take pictures. The only media we have is a couple of videos from phones placed in our shoes, so I edited them together and added some commentary [watch below]. It’s not the movie of the year, but it might give folks an insight into what climbing something like this involves.
Pearson is one of the world’s most accomplished trad climbers. In 2024, he established one of the hardest all-gear lines in the world with Bon Voyage, which he graded E12 and Adam Ondra graded 5.14d. Some of Pearson’s other hard sends include Dave MacLeod’s Rhapsody E11, Jacopo Larcher’s Tribe E11, and Neil Gresham’s Lexicon E11.
Master’s Crack
The post James Pearson on Send of Master’s Crack E9 appeared first on Gripped Magazine.