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50 Years On - Rob Matheson | Weekly Video

by James Garner

Another week where we're showing you two videos! Here we take a look at renowned climber and local Lakes legend, Rob Matheson, who has recently been repeating some of his first ascents (when the weather was a lot less grim). The video shows him repeating 'Holocaust' (E4 6a) on Dow Crag, 50 years to the day since he pioneered the route. Unfortunately for himself and Craig Matheson (you might have heard of him), 50 years to the day just happened to be pretty much the hottest day of the year.

Rob and Craig talk about how the route was first sent, (the only type of chalk then was rubbing gravel together), the strangely blistering hot Lakes weather, and a bit of background to the climb. Rob also repeated another classic, Paladin (E3 6a), last year and hopes to repeat a few more lines in the future: Cruel Sister (E3 5c), Grand Alliance (E4 6a) and Lubyanka (E3 5c) to name a few.

With the rusty peg and nut still there from the 1971 success, watch Rob repeat an absolute classic line on one of The Lake District's best multi-pitch venues: