Steve McClure repeats Yma O Hyd (again) – on trad gear only
- Monday 2nd June 2025
Steve has returned once again to Skyline Buttress, Gallt yr Ogof in north Wales for his latest mission – a repeat of Yma O Hyd (E10 7a) without the pegs in Mission Impossible.
Steve made the second ascent of James 'Caff' McHaffie’s Yma O Hyd (E10 7a) in mid-October last year at the last knockings of the mountain trad season. Running the gauntlet of incoming bad weather, Steve’s second ascent of Yma O Hyd came after three days of effort and about a month after McHaffie’s first ascent. Click here for our report on McHaffie’s first ascent of what is considered north Wales' hardest trad route - a super-direct start to Neil Carson’s Mission Impossible (E9 7a).
Speaking to Climber after his second ascent, we asked Steve where Yma O Hyd stood in what in effect had become the trifecta of big trad routes – Rhapsody, Lexicon and Yma O Hyd: “It’s like they are the BIG THREE really, with very good climbing, but also very hard climbing. Lexicon is the easiest, though not by tons, and has for sure the biggest danger element. Rhapsody might be a tad harder physically, I can’t remember. Whatever, all three are amazing routes and I feel incredibly lucky to have them as beautiful experiences to look back on.”
Well, now Steve has another experience to reflect upon: Yma O Hyd without the pegs. Straight off the bat, Steve was very keen to tell Climber that he’s not embarking on a pegless crusade – very much the opposite in fact: “I'm all for pegs. Last thing I want is pegs out.”
Steve’s objective then was a personal one, a personal challenge to climb Yma O Hydon trad gear alone by simply climbing past the in-situ pegs.
Steve explained his thinking in more detail: “The idea to climb Mission Impossible with no pegs for protection has been around for a while, a few folk have talked about it, and it sounded like a cool challenge. But it really is an excellent route with the pegs, one of the very best of its style anywhere. I forgot all about the potential for skipping the pegs, MI is pretty intense, and you kind of know that placing any gear is gonna be tough and maybe not as solid as you’d like.
Steve continued: “Caff’s direct start to MI, Yma O Hyd, is a truly brilliant route. It’s so good, the venue; the views, the exposed position, everything about it is special and exactly what I want from climbing. I wanted more from the experience. With Caff’s start being all trad, with micro-cams and a few spicy run-outs, I kind of wondered how it would feel to stay in ‘trad’ zone all the way.
“It was a perfect personal challenge, especially with the awesome weather window, taking me back up into the hills with great people. It’s a funny thing when you get grabbed by a challenge, suddenly you know you are all-in. It could be anything: a new route, a hardest route, a classic on a few different crags, a speed record….it really doesn’t matter. What matters is you rise to the challenge and it makes you be your best.”
So, is Steve starting a trend we wondered: “I’d be surprised if anyone bothers to climb Yma O Hyd or Mission, missing the pegs, it was something that just really appealed to me at that space in time.”
To reiterate, Steve is very definitely not on a mission (sic) to eliminate pegs: “A statement against pegs? Absolutely not at all. There are tons of pegs all over the UK and a long-standing part of our history. MI is a better route with the pegs in than not; it is accessible to more people and is the challenge that was originally climbed. However, a pegless ascent is right there for those who are psyched. And it works too, once you decide to go ‘pegless’, you are kind of committed, you can’t exactly grab a peg if you get tired, and with just cams on your rack it’s gonna be a fiddly effort if you fluff a placement to try and clip a peg instead.”
Climber asked Steve to talk us through the gear: “The trad gear is mostly OK. There’s just one section in the middle where there’s a good peg, the pegless version has instead a small RP, and then higher, the next good peg is usually clipped from a decent hand hold… but it’s crucial to get a cam in that hand hold so you have to commit to the first crux and reach back and plug a cam into it.
“Falling off there onto the RP far below could be nasty. The final section has a good cam (instead of two pegs) to protect the run-out crux. I think it’s pretty solid, 4/5 [ie 4/5 out of 5 – the same as a bolt]. But placing it is a bit fiddly and pumpy!
And for those interested in the grade: “Overall skipping the pegs isn’t actually that much harder. A grade harder? I’m really not sure. With it being such an individual challenge I for once don’t feel the need to put a grade in it. Like who grades what an E1 is if you solo it, or if you climb 10 of them in a day?”
Although Steve is leaving Yma O Hyd "gradeless", it's pretty obvious that what was considered the hardest trad route in north Wales has just got a notch harder. It seems that Steve's trad mission continues...