Watch Martin Keller on First Ascent of Ninja Skills Sit V15/16

It took Martin Keller more than 150 sessions over three years to make the first ascent of the sit start to Ninja Skills. The stand variation was first climbed by Nalle Hukkataival at V14 in 2009.

The problem is found on a south-facing slope in Sobrio, Switzerland. Keller is known for projecting routes for a long time, in 2012 he sent Der mid dem Fels tanzt V15 in Switzerland after 100 session.

In a lengthy blog post about his first ascent, Keller said, “It will forever be (one off) the best boulder[s] I have ever climbed…what really counts is the personal experiences, the people I met and the things I learned.” Read more from Keller here.

View this post on Instagram

bit late; but „real-life“ came first 😉 nevertheless still super happy to finally do the FIRST ASCENT off the „SIT-DOWN-START to NINJA-SKILLS, 8C/8C+“ – the best and hardest boulder i ever climbed on!!! . after more then three years off effort, over 150 sessions, climbing at minus six degrees celius and in 50cm of snow to epic all-night-12hrs sessions in up to 25C in july and falling twice at the very last harder move to the lip (after 10hrs!!! into the session) in july – i finally was able to keep it together and send the SDS to this legendary @nalle_hukkataival boulder !!! . . the send did happen just one week after doing „STORY OF TWO WORLDS (low-start), 8C“ – my best week of climbing for sure!!! and the best was that (as on the send of „story“) my girl @cat__ballou (she joined and supported me on so many epic sessions down there!) and my good friend giani (@gianiclimbs) have been down there with me for the send! they shuffled pads and gave me that little bit off extra motivation and power to keep going when i started to numb out on the top out! thanx so much!!! wouldn’t have had been possible without these two ??!!! . and again it was this experience to turn the impossible into possible! dream big – work hard – enjoy the process – learn (fail) – and (eventually) send – wherever in life you are ?? ———————— . —> for the people interested in the full story and more details visit my blog (link in bio) . . -picture1; sticking the second cruxmove on the send – video-still from the ascent . -picture2; what an awsome line!!! and jup; its quite steep!!! great pic by my friend; @hanneskutza . . -picture/movie3; failing (=getting better) is the way to sucess!!! . . -picture4; dolce fa niente… 😉 . -picture 5; check the full @puzzleglass movie of the journey (includes the uncut ascent!!!) @moonclimbing -> 8pm swizzy-time!!! . -picture 6; after the send; so happy to have had my lady @cat__ballou down there when it finally happend! we had so many epic days and nights down there. so thankful for her supportreally appreciated big time ???! and check out the highballs she cleaned on the back! really nice ??! . ———————-

A post shared by Martin Keller (@swizzybouldering) on May 9, 2019 at 9:08am PDT

Ninja Skills Sit