Jacob Amos sends Font’s famous testpiece Duel (Font 8A)

• Tuesday 18th February 2025

Young Peak District based crusher Jacob Amos headed to France to close out his efforts on Duel (Font 8A), the famous Fontainebleau testpiece.

Renowned for stopping many climbers in the tracks, Duel (Font 8A) is one of the forest’s most coveted and iconic problems; so many climbers have been ground into the dirt on this bloc at Franchard Cuisiniere that its difficulty has become infamous.

Writing about his ascent Jacob said;

‘Feels quite special to finally put this all timer to bed! 4 sessions split over 3 years, and it ended up going down first go today! I then repeated it 2nd go to see if it was just a fluke! Maybe the most famous slab in the world, and certainly the best boulder I’ve ever done.’

For anyone unfamiliar with Jacob, he’s amassed a considerable repertoire of both route and blocs in the last few years as he’s developed his craft as a junior. Back in March 2023, Jacob climbed Priestmaker, his first Font 8A, after which he did Dark Matter, his first F8b. 2024 was a mixed year for Jacob with an injury but he continued to add hard blocs and routes to his CV ticking-off, amongst others, the impressive Font highball L'Arrache Coeur (Font 7C+) as well as Mecca Extension (F8c); the latter just two weeks after turning 16!

Follow Jacob here on his Instagram page.