V17 Repeat, Heathen Maiden, Hard Sends and Access Alert
One of the world's hardest problems was repeated, plus several climbers send their summer projects
Some weeks are busier than others in the world of climbing, and a lot went down over the past few days. From climbers sending hard lines to access issues in Australia, here’s a rundown of some big news in climbing.
Access is threatened at Point Perpendicular in Australia, a world-class climbing area with over 700 established routes on an 80-metre-tall cliff that stretches 14 kilometres along the northern side of Jervis Bay. The Australia Climbing Association said, “Public access to world class climbing at Point Perpendicular on the Beecroft Peninsula is under threat due to recent changes to entry procedures and safety concerns from the land manager, the Australian Department of Defence.” For more information visit here.
Aidan Roberts, 21, has made the first repeat of Shawn Raboutou’s Alphane V17 at Chironico, Switzerland. The 21-year-old talked with Tom Randall about the problem and the process – you can listen to their conversation on Spotify here.
Nina Williams announced that she sent Zulu, a popular 5.14a at Colorado’s Rifle. “On the send go I botched the bottom boulder problem and thought it was pointless to go on,” she said, “but kept setting little markers for myself a few moves higher and soon realized I felt better on this go than the last (of which I had pitched off the last hard move). The end felt almost anticlimactic because every other go had this dramatic fall from the crimp. But finally, I latched it.”
Alex Johnson shared the news that she repeated the burly V13 problem called Blackout in Joe’s Valley, watch the send below. Johnson has repeated several hard lines over the years, including The Swarm V13/14, and has climbed over 100 V10s.
French climber Solène Amoros sent her first 5.14c with La Flûte en Chantier at La Ramirole in the Verdon Gorge. Her send comes shortly after teaming up with Katherine Choong from Switzerland for a repeat of the 240-metre Ali Baba 5.13c at Aiglun in France. Her first 5.14c took 10 days of effort spread over three trips.
Luka Lindic completed a longtime goal of establishing a free route through a famous rock feature on the north face of Mount Prisojnik in Slovenia. The feature, known as the Heathen Maiden, offers a series of roofs up a limestone wall. Lindic developed and sent the route with his partner and leading climber, Ines Papert. Follow along as he shares the story of the line on Instagram below.
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