Anna Hazelnutt repeats E9 at Dyer's Lookout, UK

On a short visit to the UK American climber Anna Hazelnutt completed an extremely bold ascent of Once Upon a Time in the Southwest. Located at Dyer's Lookout in Devon, England, to the left of James Pearson's Walk of Life, the route was first ascended by Dave Birkett in 2010 and due to the techy climbing and poor quality gear it warrants the benchmark E9 grade.

Hazelnutt worked the route with Tom Randall on a shunt for a few sessions beforehand, and then after Randall’s successful lead she managed to summon up the courage and go for it herself.

She is now one of the very few women to have climbed British E9, joining the likes of Hazel Findlay (2011), Emma Twyford (2013), Eve Lancashire (2016), Barbara Zangerl (2016) and Madeleine Cope (2018).

Her ascent is all the more remarkable as it is likely to be the biggest single jump in UK trad grades; after learning how to place gear shortly before leaving the US, Once Upon a time was her first UK trad route!