Emma Twyford has redpointed Melancholie 8b at Lower Pen Trwyn in North Wales as her third route of the grade.

Emma Twyford climbing her third 8b - Melancholie © Glyn Hudson

Emma clipped the chains on her third go of the day yesterday (18th June) and described the route as probably the hardest of her three 8b ticks to date. She told UKC:

"It's a bouldery power endurance route which took me about 8 sessions. The hardest thing about it is getting good conditions, of the 8 days I think I had 3 days where everything was dry in the time I've been around to try it. This caused a bit of a mental battle as I had a couple of backwards sessions in bad conditions which meant I started to doubt my ability to do it after feeling confident it would go quickly, as on my 3rd or 4th day I fell off high going into the jugs on the Bad Bad Boy traverse."

Emma on the crux of Melancholie 8b © Glyn Hudson

Emma was pleased to add a very different style of climb to her repertoire:

"I've always eyed up this route and been keen to try it but due to its notoriety for needing good conditions and having a hard bouldery start I've always avoided it knowing that it is not really my style of climbing, so I'm super happy to tick something so bouldery!"

Emma's hardest sport climb to date is the classic Malham route Unjustified 8b+/8c (UKC News Report), and she has trad-climbed up to E9 with an ascent of Rare Lichen.



