8a

Three and a half year ago, on September 23, 2010, I climbed my first 7a route in a small climbing area in Spain. Only four days earlier I struggled to climb my second 6c and in an optimistic blur I decided just to give it a shot. And it paid off, I climbed my first route in the 7th grade. It always seemed the realm of super hard climbing, only accessible through hard training, requiring near mutant physical abilities. And then all of the sudden I realized that a 7a was just a very hard 6c. Nothing magical about it. When I got back home, I set myself the goal to climb 8a and I started training. Last weekend, after many training sessions, a shift of emphasis towards bouldering, a broken ankle and lots and lots of failed attempts to conquer new terrain, I climbed that first 8a. Everything is possible!

Last weekend seemed to be the only time frame Koen and I could find in which we both had time to climb. So we ignored the dodgy weather forecasts and drove to Northern France. We both had unfinished business on the red sandstone cliffs of the Vosges Park. Last August I failed to climb 'Traité de Déversification' during a five day trip to Grotte du Brotsch and Koen spent six days across the past year to attempt 'La Taille et la Gamelle' in Kronthal. Two men, two 8a projects and two days to climb them. And a dog. Little London came along on her first camping trip to lighten up the mood and make us forget the redpoint pressure.

Long story short we were incredibly lucky with the weather and we both climbed our projects. I topped mine on Saturday at 16:30 after six failed attempts on the last hard move, Koen his on Sunday morning after working it a bit on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Already on my first attempt I felt that I was much stronger than last year and that climbing the route was possible now. It took some more tries and I even started doubting success again, but in the afternoon it happened. We drove to Kronthal to switch to Koens project. Although being tired from trying mine, he came very close. We both knew he could do it. Despite bad weather forecasts, it was dry and even sunny on Sunday and after a good night's sleep Koen made quick work of his project as well. We were over the moon. All our hard work and all our failures finally paid off in the same weekend. Below is the video I made of our ascents:

So what's next? The immediate urge to climb an 8a is tempered now, although I would like to climb more of them in the time to come. But first I'd like to climb more routes in the upper half of the 7th grade. Finishing Banane Ohne Rampe in Teuto would be a good start. I might even do some bouldering again, I'd be happy to. But who knows, I will run into that perfect next 8a project sooner or later. I simply don't know when I'll find myself on it, but one thing is certain: I'm not done yet and I will try to push the limit further again.