Climber Repeats Famous V16 in Switzerland
Florian Wientjes climbed his first V16 with this burly problem in Val Bavona
German climber Florian Wientjes has climbed his first V16 with Off the Wagon Low in Val Bavona, Switzerland. The 27-year-old had already amassed an impressive tick-list with several V15s.
Off the Wagon is a powerful problem on a big boulder that was first tried 20 years ago by Chris Sharma and Dave Graham. Nalle Hukkataival made the first ascent at V14 and called it Off the Wagon in 2012. Shawn Raboutou climbed the low start at V16, the first problem at the grade in the country. Jimmy Webb repeated it, and Daniel Woods got the third ascent.
It’s now been climbed by several people, including by Giuliano Cameroni and Yannick Flohe, and by Sergei Topishko in 2022. He said, “It should be said that the hold before the crux cross move is a bit different, than it was in April 2021, when I tried it last time. A small crystal is missing, so now you can put the thumb on fingers to crimp the hold. It’s a bit easier now to do stand, but doesn’t really change something for the Low and Sit.
At the end of 2022, Wentjes climbed Dreamtime V15 and Forgotten Gem V15. Last summer, he flashed hard problems in Rocklands, including Amandla V14.
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