[Bigdog]

New to the site, does anyone know what Brits have made the youngest ascents of an 8b and 8c? Would also be interested to know any other 'youngests'
Cheers guys 

[Kingy]

I think Matt Donnelly did Zeke the Freak when he was 14 or 15. can't think of any younger 8b climbers. not sure about 8c

[Bigdog]

yeah and mecca when he was 15? tom bolger for youngest 8c maybe?

[Monolith]

He did indeed. Up at the top of Mecca Extension these days after a long layoff.

[Bigdog]

yeah cheers, youngest 8a flash or onsight? hm

[andy_e]

What, THE Matt Donnelly?

[Ally Smith]

Yep, THE Enigma that is Matt Donnelly with what he calls "a binary party switch"...
(currently set to the "0" position)

[Monolith]

He's very much a helper these days. Caught the contents of my soul in a bucket Saturday past after drinking the bar dry.

[Bigdog]

did jasper sharpe do chouca when he was 15?
anyone know any other young hard ascents ?

[fatdoc]

Jasper will correct me.. I thought it was Reve at 15, chouca at 16...

[Jaspersharpe]

No. I flashed to the crux much to my surprise on the last day of a trip age 15. Never tried it seriously. Just had a go cos Gresham had his rope on it.

I did two 8as on SS when I was 15 and 8b at Buoux just after I was 17 but nothing like the kids these days are doing. Really impressive from the young Brits.

Oh God that was 21 years ago....

[Jaspersharpe]

Damn I should have just let fatdoc embellish my cv there.

[cjsheps]

buster martin's climbed a few 8b's now.

[Doylo]

No. I flashed to the crux much to my surprise on the last day of a trip age 15. Never tried it seriously. Just had a go cos Gresham had his rope on it.

I did two 8as on SS when I was 15 and 8b at Buoux just after I was 17 but nothing like the kids these days are doing. Really impressive from the young Brits.

Oh God that was 21 years ago....

You showed them the way Jasper...

[Bigdog]

what bout Leo holding, Ben bransbury and Adam drewnhrusts sorry not sure about spellings? What did they get up to

[Doylo]

Think Leo was 17 or 18 when he did Bungles Arete

[Jaspersharpe]

You showed them the way Jasper...

With hindsight 8b when the hardest route in the world was 8c+ wasn't bad. But then I climbed with Malc so at the time I thought I was quite weak. It's all relative.

[Paul B]

There were a few young 'uns (Irish) on Chouca, the Rose and an assortment of other hard Buoux test pieces last week, it was really impressive to watch (all seemed to have a great attitude too), they were all coming painfully close on their last day before a big drive for a comp. I'm unsure how it ended (maybe I missed this somewhere?) but it seemed a question of just a little more time rather than anything else.

[Baron]

Youngest to headpoint E6? Great trad coaching that.

[buster martin]

Yeah 16 year old eoin acton did chouca and Dom burns got to the last hard move on rosé

[Doylo]

You showed them the way Jasper...

With hindsight 8b when the hardest route in the world was 8c+ wasn't bad. But then I climbed with Malc so at the time I thought I was quite weak. It's all relative.

That's like a youth doing a 9a now!

[Kingy]

Martin Watson did Grooved Arete 8a+ at Kilnsey aged 14

[Bigdog]

Good effort, does no one know youngest 8c, I thought on this forum of all knowing someone would know 

[gme]

Jasper has already mentioned his name but surely Malcs ascents have not been equaled even though they were 20 years ago.

8b at 16, 8A boulder problems at 16.

8c+ at 18 which at the time was as hard as anything in the world and also ranks as 8B bouldering according to those in the know. This is not that different to ondra doing 9b at 18. I think Malc had only been climbing regularly for 3 or 4 years at that point.

I cant think of any Brits that have come close to that even now when the sport has moved on a considerable amount.

On another point i also think the age thing is slightly overloaded as some of the 14-16 year olds have been climbing and training for 10 years+. The length of time you have been climbing has a bigger effect on grade and ability than age. The only thing i see as being harder is due to size.

I think there are cases of people climbing 8b and 8A within 2 years of ever setting foot or finger on rock. (miles Gibson, Micky Page) and Ben Davison has done 8b+ recently having only started climbing in 2010.

[SA Chris]

Fuckers the lot of them

I think what Gav says is true though. Before the advent of commercial climbing walls (last 10 years) it was highly unusual for anyone to be climbing anything remotely challenging until they were in their late teens. Puts what Malc, Jasper and similar achieved into perspective.