Okay...writing this one feels pretty damn good! Yesterday was a day quite anxiously awaited after talking to Julian Meyer the days before - he had told me that Bergen was completely dry, meaning that my project - not one of the many but the big one, yes that one! - would probably be dry as well!
The project no longer is a project. It´s a route called "Old dog, new tricks". I sent the damn thing!
I bolted the line last year and got close to sending it - ripping of a crucial hold on my second day of efforts. Since I was scheduled to go to the Frankenjura for a year, I refused to quit, sucked it up and started working on the new and substantially harder upper crux - no dice! I didn´t even have a chance. I red tagged the project, vowed to return and did so about four weeks ago. I found out I could link all the moves from the fourth bolt on with one hang, actually climb the whole thing with one hang, so I was confident that I might pull the whole thing off sometime this year...if I ever managed to find it dry again! The project´s only downside: it gets wet easily...and takes very long to dry and be climbable again!
Yesterday, things were drier than ever! I wasn´t even sure of whether to attempt the project or not, considering it was quite warm and humid - not the conditions you want to have for wide pinches and slopers in a close to 40° overhang! But then I decided to hop on, put in the first three draws and shaking out before heading into the first hard section decided to make it a send go!
It all feel into place perfectly! I hit every move absolutely right, all heel hooks and tricks worked out perfectly and I clipped the chains! It´s the hardest thing I´ve climbed and calling solid 8a or 5.13b/c on it seems like a good guess! The fact that it´s a first ascent is the icing on the cake!
The line climbs out of a little cave! It´s the steepest and to me the most intriguing line of the area - and it offers amazing climbing on wide pinches and slopers, which are some of my favorite holds! As a little pun on me zooming in on my 31st birthday on August 26th this year, I decided to name the climb "Old dog, new tricks". This one taught me a lot about climbing and reminded me to keep up my level of psyche and determination at times when things were a little bit rougher on the edges. The next months will be tedious and full of exams, chores and at times frustration. I don´t mind. Been there, done that. So far, I´ve always come up with a new trick!
I´ll return to the rig as soon as possible for a little photo shooting session! Some pics will be posted as soon as I have them!
