One down

Matt and I (and three dogs very happy dogs) went back to Elefantenbäuche determined to get something done this time. As it happened to be quite warm and particularly humid, we thought that holding on to the very friction dependent sloper on Strontium 90 would be impossible and we focussed on Opium fürs Volk instead. To be honest, I expected to do it in two, maybe three attempts. It took more. Moving into the big undercut was much harder than I remembered and I fell twice on that move. The top crux spit me off twice as well, one time literally with a half pad of my fingertips on the jug over the lip... In the meantime, Matt wasn't more successful and we both started to feel the redpoint pressure, contemplating the painful option of having to go home without ticking off Opium fürs Volk.

Finishing the crux of Opium fürs Volk: one more bump up to go to the redeeming jug. Photo taken by Erik during the previous session.

Fifth attempt. Watching my fingers dry after applying the canned magic named 'Friction+' seemed an eternity. With no positions to chalk up on the route, starting with perfectly dry skin makes a big difference. I started concentrated and climbed through the start and the weird, balancy moves on the edges. Moving up to the undercut, my body position was slightly off though and I struggled to catch the hold, but lost my focus in the process. Instead of moving my left foot up first to push myself closer to the undercling, I immediately moved up my other hand, putting myself in a very strenuous position. Wasting even more energy, I corrected my mistake and stepped up. Making the foot moves to prepare for the crux, suddenly 'the flow' returned: I forgot about my tired forearms and focussed on the moves ahead. Almost unconsciously I executed the crux, that suddenly felt awkwardly easy. With a yell of relief I clipped the chains (actually there are just single bolts without backup and no chains in Ith - no 'Deutsche Grundlichkeit' here - but you get the point, right?). Strange how easy hard redpoints often feel on the successful ascent...

Folding up and fiddling with edges halfway up Opium fürs Volk.
Another photo taken by Erik during the previous session.

My success put some additional redpoint pressure on Matt, who usually deals better with the anxiety than I do and wraps ups projects a bit quicker. Not today though and he kept things exciting until his very last attempt. Having nearly given up he reluctantly forced himself to go up one final time. Somewhere he found the perseverance to hold on and sent Opium fürs Volk as well. The first hard(ish) route of the season is down at last! According to plan, more will follow. In the past week though I already missed two opportunities to go back to my 8a project in northern France. I hope I'll have another one soon. In the meantime, I'll try to make some more meters in the upper 7th grade to prepare myself for the 8th grade...