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Video: George Ullrich Gaia (E8 6c) Flash Attempt

Via UKClimbing, check out this incredible video of the young Brit George Ullrich attempting to flash Gaia.  Filmed by Dave Gill, it offers a different angle on this route than you normally see.

Gaia (E8 6c) Flash Attempt from Dave Gill on Vimeo.

You'll remember that Alex Honnold recently pulled off an impressive onsight-beta-flash of this iconic grit line during his trip to England.  Of considerably lower quality, here is the video of Honnold's send:

Alex Honnold Gia OnsightWatch on youtube

Update:  One piece of info I should have included were Ullrich's comments on the UKC forums about the rope setup he used for the climb:

I decided to use a second rope, which would involve a second belayer anchored to the right. This in the case of a fall would hopefully stop me from penduluming into the arête. The problem was, I was concentrating so much on this rope and how it was wrapped round my right leg, I completely forgot about the first and most important rope, which when I fell was wrapped round my other leg which caused me to flip upside down.  Top tip - dont over complicate things
Legacy discussion

12 comments

  1. Tony

    DEEEEAAANNNNGGGG!!!

  2. steve schultz

    wow. sweaty palms.

  3. Narc

    Indeed. I mentioned to Mrs. Narc how much more impressive this fall was than her devastating fall and she was rather non-plussed.

    1. Mark

      Yeah, good choice. Woulda been the first thing I would have done. I always like things being a little extra tense around the holidays.

  4. steve schultz

    Yeah, i bet that wouldn't hold up too well with the missus.

  5. Situner

    Oh my GOOOOOODDDDDDD!!!!

    And people ask why I never rope up?

    Crazy fools and your strings!

    1. Narc

      On the bright side, it is hard to pull any tendons when you are cracking your skull open...

      1. steve schultz

        Funny, Narc. That made me smile.

  6. Chris

    Wow. Holy crap.

    On a separate note, the second video was about like watching poor quality paint dry.

    1. Narc

      It probably wasn't fair of me to have them both in the same post.

  7. Matt C.

    Killer video. Show the non-holds really well.

  8. Sara

    Thanks for adding the explanation of the rope setup -- watching the video *I* was super distracted by the ropes and thinking about the inevitable fall dynamics...

    Eech. Was happy to see he was wearing a helmet!