Katherine Choong Repeats a Six-Pitch 5.13d
On her first redpoint go, she fell just below the chains on the last pitch so returned a few days later for the full send
Swiss climber Katherine Choong, 32, has climbed La Fiesta de Los Metallos in the Verdon Gorge, France. The stout five-pitch 5.13d was first climbed by Nicolas Potard and Olivier Dutel.
“Its pitches are very varied,” said Choong. “Dihedrals, cracks, tufas, pockets, crimps, big overhangs and old school slabs, it’s a must do.” After attempting it in April, she took a few months off to let conditions in the area improve and returned this week. The pitches clock in at 5.12, 5.13a, 5.13d, 5.12, 5.13b and 5.13b.
“I had to fight hard again through all the five first pitches,” said Choong. “I felt stressed but super psyched for the last one. I started climbing and felt the strong support of my partner Jim. I struggled in the first part of the route, but reached the last rest, the final crux was just above me. I knew exactly what I had to do. I gave everything I had, climbed through the crux and clipped the chains in a perfect no-fall day ascent.” Watch her on pitch five below.
Choong has repeated some of the Europe’s hardest multi-pitch and has climbed two 5.14d sport routes. She has always focused on the mental side of climbing, saying, “I enjoy the success, but what is more interesting is the process, the approach, and the path to get there. Finding unimaginable resources, solutions to complex problems dictated by the rock, and continuing to believe when nothing else seems possible is what motivates me. When the game flirts so closely with the limits of our performance, it is above all a work of perfectionism.”
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