Climbing has always been a bit more than just a physical element for me. I was raised by my parents, who did a lot of alpine climbing in the past, and their stories when they were young, from climbing up in the mountains with very little gear, were always fascinating. Additionally, our crags are also pretty runout, so if I wanted to lead climb at our home crags, I simply had to start embracing runouts and reasonable fear❗
The UK is a special country because, besides offering a lot of sport climbing and bouldering, the amount of trad climbing is vast. Many crags are 100% trad with natural gear only, and you don't even think about placing a bolt in certain places. These ethics also lead to a huge variety of trad routes - easy, well-protectable or extremely difficult, and also almost unprotectable. It is a culture that is deeply embedded in the British DNA of climbing, and it is very interesting to learn about it. I was always quite hesitant to go and try some of the harder trad routes in the UK, because they often look objectively very dangerous. Gear placements are often very precarious, and I still feel pretty much like a beginner when it comes to placing and trusting the gear.
When my friend Neil Gresham made the first ascent of Lexicon in 2021, I knew it was a route that looked too good to miss. It is in a beautiful landscape of the Lake District, high in the mountains, blending the trad climbing skills, cool head, and sport climbing physique in a perfect way. I got in contact with Neil about it and waited for the moment to make a trip to the UK. It happened to be the driest spring in a long time, and it was sure the route would be dry, with no rain to be forecast in days!
The shade comes in the afternoon, so we could hike in the morning and enjoy some talk in the sun, while I was watching the wall from the side. It looked daunting for sure, but the day was too beautiful to be actually worried. It was cool to have there Neil and Craig Matheson, another local climber who has put up numerous first ascents in the Lakes. It is cool and so simple to be surrounded by climbers who share the same passion and vision of life, and it doesn't really matter if it is the first or 100th time you meet. As the shade was getting closer, we went to the top of the crag and Neil rappelled down the line to clean it, put some chalk, and showed me the gear placements, as I was hanging approximately 8 meters to the right of it to get a good view. I was also using videos available on my phone to visualise the beta in the best possible way.
Later on, it was game time! Neil and Craig were doing a great job of distracting me, keeping it light, but just before I set off, I took a minute to compose and be conscious about what was about to happen. I set off, feeling relaxed, but already the very first meters were a bit surprising. Climbing was not too difficult, but quite bold, and I was not really sure if those edges were absolutely solid. It was mostly me not being used to climbing on this specific rock, but it was not going as perfectly as I hoped. When I arrived 15 meters above the ground, where you can place good cams, I did so quickly and precisely. I left my kneepad on the ledge and waited for the moment to come. Soon, I felt it was time. I felt relaxed, just as if this was another sport climb.
The hard thing about Lexicon is that the most demanding part is long and relentless all the way. Every hold is quite special, and knowledge of every spike and crystal is very important. As you go for flash, you discover all the holds as you go, and sometimes you are surprised. The first 5 moves were perfect, but then I was improvising a bit, holds were a bit different from what I expected, and I was about to lose the flow a bit. I was not getting too tired, but let's say I was hoping to have a bit more margin. As I was getting higher and higher, I had to be focused and try pretty hard. Slowly, but surely, I was in the last two hard moves. Getting the tiny left-hand crimp, right-hand two-finger pocket, and last hard move, a dynamic move into a slot. The problem is that you can't really do it in a controlled manner, especially when you're tired. I actually started improvising, changed a foothold, then changed it yet again, but the last change felt good, and I just went for it, without thinking. I got the slot, still being pretty much without emotions, because there were still two moves to go. Getting the lip was amazing, but all of a sudden, I started realising what had just happened, and despite feeling total joy, I was also a bit shaking! Shortly, I was scared, and I was glad I did not test that fall!
Thank you, Neil, for putting this route, and thank you for the belay! This route means a lot to me, and it means a lot to me that you were on the other side of the rope! And also BIG thanks to Al Lee and Brit Rock Films for the cool footage in our new amazing film by Pavel Klement and Jan Šimánek, which you can enjoy on Mammut's YouTube channel and a short version on my YouTube channel right now.
Photos by Petr Chodura
