Last night Neil – Ding Dong – Dyer completed a major link in Parisella’s, the ‘cave of eternal justice’ (lest we forget). Silk Cut V14/8b+ extends Director’s Cut hard V13/8b into the obvious highball exit of Upper Cut V8/7b/+. The previous night Neil climbed through Director’s Cut only for a foot to pop as he moved into the highball finish. This in itself constituted the fourth ascent of Director’s Cut (after Jamie Cassidy, Malcolm Smith and Gaz Parry), but the logical top out remained as Neil’s original goal, one which he had been eyeing for a long time.

“I’ve been working towards this for the last ten years, ever since I did the moves on Lou Ferrino, back when Floppy was first trying it.” Commented Neil.

In recent years Neil had been getting closer and closer to completing the line. A series of ascents, starting with the first ascent of Upper Cut, and then Trigger Cut into Upper Cut V11/8a, and Halfway House into Upper Cut hard V12/8a+ all pointed towards the obvious challenge of the big connection. Last year at the peak of a sustained period of high fitness he slipped from the Trigger Cut crux and fell awkwardly breaking his wrist. This knocked him right back to square one; even after the wrist had healed he was faced with a long trek back to his previous high point. However, regular cave sessions over the winter months ensured that, slowly but surely, Neil not only regained his former strength and fitness, but seemed to move up to another level.

The actual ascent went very smoothly on the first attempt, as Neil explains: “It started to really flow, I was cruising, just bam, bam, bam, move after move. I felt like I was doing a big route. Everything just clicked. I actually felt fairly fresh when I got to the top of Director’s and the top groove went fine. It's strange how something so hard can feel okay on the final redpoint.”

Gareth Aston filmed the ascent; to see this remarkable footage click on: Silk Cut film

Relevant links:
      Broken wrist news item
      Halfway House – Upper Cut link news item