Gripped Magazine
Robbie Phillips Flashes Bold 5.13+ Trad in U.K.
Robbie Phillips has made the first flash ascent of Divided Years (E9 6c) on Buzzard’s Roost in the Mourne Mountains, Northern Ireland, calling it “possibly the biggest fight I’ve ever had on a climb.” The route, first climbed by legendary trad climber John Dunne in 1995 after projecting the route, has become one of the U.K.’s most iconic trad testpieces. Later ascents came from Dave Birkett, Dave MacLeod and Ricky Bell, with its grade eventually settling at E9.
Estimated at around 5.13c, Divided Years had seen only two previous ground-up ascents, both by James MacHaffie and Ryan Pasquill in 2015. About the route, MacHaffie said, “Without doubt it’s one of the best single pitch routes, sport or trad, that I’ve ever done.” Phillips arrived well prepared, having built on a run of E7 onsights during 2025 and 2026. He studied videos, drew route maps and tailored his training specifically for the challenge.
“I did my work, I studied hard,” he said. “I watched lots of videos, drew physical route maps. Amazingly there was still so much uncertainty… I had to Plan B it twice. If it hadn’t put up such a fight it wouldn’t have felt as good. If I hadn’t geeked out quite as much as I had, I wouldn’t have stood a chance.” The ascent adds another milestone to Phillips’ trad climbing career, marking not only a rare E9 flash but a flash of one of Britain’s most celebrated extreme routes. He also praised climbing partner Jamie Lowther, who repeated the route during the same trip.
This is one of the hardest flashes ever in the U.K., but not the hardest. That credit goes to Adam Ondra with his flash of Lexicon E11 7a in Pavey Ark – read more about it here.
MacLeod on Divided Years
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