The Big Skin E8 6c

Only two weeks have passed since Ricky climbed his new route Freshly Baked E7 6b and he already climbed yet another new hard line at Fairhead in Ireland.

Ricky’s new route takes a far more direct line through a route he put up last year called ‘A bad skin day’. This new line has been at the foreground of Ricky’s plans for quite a while now but patience has been required until conditions and confidence allowed an ascent of this amazing line.


Here is a small snippet of Ricky’s description of the route:

The wall stays in the shade most of the day and so the holds on the crimpy section felt nice. The crux is getting established above an overlap near the arete about a third of the way up the wall. A really insecure move on two gastons. Bit of a nightmare but was fine on lead. Trippy little headpoint mindset took over. The middle of the wall is much easier but no gear until a massive hollow flake and a bit of sky hook trickery. I used a bungey cord to hold a wee hook down on a good edge above the hollow flake. Then you get to the safety of the gear on A Bad Skin Day and finish up it. Amazing wall. So nice to climb on it.

Called it 'The Big Skin' E8 6c



A Big thanks once again to Craig Hiller for the amazing images of Ricky.