Didier Berthod Redpoints New 5.14 Trad in Squamish
The Swiss climber has completed The Crack of Destiny on The Chief, a route that ranks among the hardest gear pitches in North America
Swiss climber Didier Berthod recently pinkpointed a longstanding project in Squamish at 5.14 trad, calling it The Crack of Destiny. A pinkpoint means the gear was pre-placed in the crack before he started climbing. Berthod returned to The Crack of Destiny this week and redpointed it, which means he sent it while placing all of the gear on lead.
After his pinkpoint, he told us, “It’s not over cause I wanna try the real thing, a.k.a the redpoint.” A redpoint is when a climber places all of the gear as they climb on lead. “It could be 5.14b or 5.14c, I don’t know,” he said. “It just feels harder Than 5.14a.” When asked how much time he spent on the project, he said, “Thirty days last year and six days this season.”
Over the past few decades, Berthod has established and repeated some of the world’s hardest cracks. In 2003, Berthod removed the old green-painted bolts from an overhanging thin crack in the Orco Valley in Italy and redpointed it. Green Spit (spit meaning bolts), became one of the first 5.14 trad routes ever. He then travelled to Utah where he established Learning to Fly 5.13+ and From Switzerland with Love 5.13+ in Indian Creek.
In 2005, he moved to Squamish and projected Cobra Crack in a campaign recorded in the video, First Ascent (watch below). After injuring himself, he returned to Switzerland. The first ascent was made later by Sonnie Trotter at 5.14. Berthod then moved to Europe where he lived in a monastery for over a decade, read about his return to climbing in 2020 here.
Cobra Crack Attempts
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