Difficult new trad climb in South Wales by Tom Randall

British climber Tom Randall has made the first ascent of an extremely difficult climb located at Dinas Rock in South Wales. The route in question is a former aid route that first climbs the lower section of a sport route and, after having clipped its first two bolts, then breaks off to follow a powerful finger crack through an 80° roof.

Randall explained that the incredibly fickle conditions at this limestone crag coupled with the difficult and complicated moves and the fact that two micro nuts have to be placed during the crux sequence were the reason why this project was three years in the making.

In the meantime Randall has travelled across Europe and America, making fine repeats of crack climbs such as Century Crack, Anna Kournikova and Cobra Crack and bearing these in mind, he feels his Dina Crac now checks in at E9 7a, at the upper end of the British trad grading scale therefore but nevertheless slightly easier than the aforementioned routes.