Yesterday Pete Robins ramped up his Ogwen Valley campaign with yet another mind blowing creation. Madame Allure 8B is the low extension to Danny LaRue, a problem first climbed by Mike Adams in 2010.

Danny LaRue pulls on from a crouching start half way along the jutting left edge of the Lily Savage roof; Pete realised that a much longer and more involved problem could be done by starting at the base of the arête/roof lip, and over the winter months he set about piecing together the intense sequence.

The rock platform underneath the line drops away on the left so Pete (with a little help from NWB.com’s editor) spent time building up a patio to improve the landing, as well as clearing out the start.

The finishing moves, although not the crux, still involved a committing move above an alarming drop off. Mike’s sequence for this involved a big span, but Pete didn’t have the reach for this so was forced to do a very insecure swing from a poor lip hold. As this is happening the spotter must sit with a leg wedged behind a flake, brace themselves and hope the domino effect doesn’t take both them and the climber over the edge! (NB. The catch has been tested and was actually okay…sort of!)

On the final wild and windy day Pete was spotted by Adam Bailes who had gone up to the film the ascent. With the camera running and Adam in position, Pete went for it.

Although there are hard moves all the way through, the crux is latching the prominent sidepull in the roof. Pete had fallen here four times in the two previous sessions, but this time he did the move first go and continued slapping his way to glory.

The grade assessment, as ever, is tricky.

“I’ll give it 8B but I’ve never been so unsure. I thought 8B+ last week, but it felt 8A+ yesterday!”

Explained Pete, before adding:

“As for the quality, it’s as good as Snapdragon!”

Would-be repeaters should note that the problem starts sat in a low position with an obvious low left hand edge on the arête and right finger in a choice of two one finger pocks. There are about ten hand moves, plus a few hard foot moves.

Check out the V12 Gallery for some larger pics showing the drop off.

To see Adam Bailes' film of the ascent go to the DMM website.

Relevant links:
      Snapdragon news item
      Isles of Wonder news item