James McHaffie makes the 5th ascent of Indian Face E9

Caff's blog post about it, which also tells the story of his ill-fated attempt to onsight Master's Wall (on the same wall) as a young climber (warning: may cause nightmares)

The Friday post of glee is where you get to tell us about your climbing-related happiness this week.

It can be a new achievement or adventure, or just that you climbed and had fun; it can be that your favourite climbing wall is expanding or that you bought new rock shoes or that you found a cool ice-climbing vid on YouTube. No glee is too small -- or too big. Members are encouraged to cheer each other on and share the squee.

N.B. Please feel free to post your glee on any day of the week; the Friday glee is just to get the ball rolling.

To enhance this week's glee, have a Tweet: Twitter / MinaClimbing: Eek...I just did Careless Torque! :)

Translation: Mina Leslie-Wujastyk just did the first female ascent of the legendary gritstone highball Careless Torque.

ETA: Picture!

Hopefully it was caught on film; in the meantime, here's Ned Feehally on it a few years back.

Just in case anyone hasn't heard:

Ashima Shiraishi has climbed two 5.14cs in the Red River Gorge.

And flashed 5.14a.

And is still 11 years old.

DPM has pictures.

Mina Leslie-Wujastyk has climbed Mecca (French 8b+ -- the Rockfax conversion guide makes this a 5.14a).

UKClimbing.com report with photos (no video yet):

Mina's ascent of Mecca is the first of 8b+ by a woman on British soil, and makes Mina the second British woman to climb 8b+ after Lucy Creamer's ascent of Kalea Borroka in Spain back in 2009.

Ashima Shiraishi sends Crown of Aragorn (V13).

This puts her among 3 or 4 women in the world who've climbed a V13 (there's some debate about the exact number, owing to argument about whether traverses count and exactly what grade particular problems are, not to mention the mysterious way in which problems or routes often suddenly get downgraded after a woman does them).

Ashima Shiraishi is 10 years old.

Since this is the last glee post of 2011, I'd like to vary it up a little and suggest that, as well as any particular climbing-related happiness of the week, people comment with some of the things that have made them most gleeful in the past year.

Whether that's personal achievements, amazing climbs by other people (famous or not), books/DVDs/other media, new gear or new climbing gyms or new crags, things you've discovered or learned, or moments of ineffable climbing magic -- share a few.

To enhance the glee: "The tent had blown away halfway through the trip anyway." The Wideboyz are interviewed about their epic trip to tick offwidth America (Rock and Ice lists their first ascent of Century Crack as one of the Top 10 Ascents of 2011).

I have a soft spot for the Wideboyz because they're two exceptionally talented climbers who've eschewed more obvious routes to stardom in favour of devotion to one of the most esoteric and (to some people) appallingly-perverted climbing specialties. And spending two years in Tom Randall's cellar.

Boulderer Ashima Shiraishi (who's now aged 10) has been tearing up the sport climbing scene in Kentucky, climbing numerous 5.13s, including one 5.13d and a 5.13b onsight.

Here's an interview with her where she discusses getting started bouldering in Central Park, and having to use different beta on Power of Silence from climbers who are over 4 foot tall.

The Friday post of glee is where you get to tell us about your climbing-related happiness this week.

N.B. Please feel free to post your glee on any day of the week; the Friday glee is just to get the ball rolling.

To enhance this week's glee: stolen shamelessly from UKClimbing.com, the video of James MacHaffie's redpoint of his first 9a, Big Bang, complete with a move-by-move commentary from Caff, which is completely fascinating for those of us who like geeking out about such things.

In other news, Charlotte Durif has reportedly also got her first 9a -- a matter of minutes before turning 21. This makes her possibly the second woman ever to climb this grade.

Breaking news: trad climber Hazel Findlay has sent Dave Birkett's E9 route Once Upon a Time in the South West:

UKBouldering thread
UKClimbing news item

This looks like it's the first female ascent of an E9*, as well as the third ever ascent of this route. And it's a Birkett E9; for context, Birkett doesn't believe in the existence of E10s, and Birkett routes tend to get very few repeats as they scare the fuck out of most people.

I've posted these before, but here's Findlay on Rainbow of Recalcitrance and making an attempt on the ridiculously stupid (and I mean that as a compliment) Gin Palace. Matt Segal and Johnny Dawes provide belaying and moral support.

{*It's almost impossible to compare it with trad routes abroad as this involves translating from the British trad grading system, which leads inexorably to wank. "It's very hard and dangerous" is the best I feel able to venture.}