50+ days on but no 9b cigar for Midtbö

Magnus Midtbo has now spent some 50+ days over three years and fallen 40 times on the crux of Sharma's Neanderthal 9b in Santa Linya. The biggest obstacle has actually been wet holds and, lately, also temperature up to 25 degrees making it only possible for one evening push per day. (c) Henning Wang Previously, Magnus has done 12 9a's and harder including Ali Hulk sit start extension 9b. For 12 straight years, Magnus has been a very successful competition climber and in 2011 he was #4 in the World Championship. Please give us some insight of your big project? It starts with a 7b+ up to a no hands rest and then it is like a sustained hard 9a up to the crux. The crux is like a 7C+ boulder followed by an 8c to the top where actually Chris fell once. The problem now is that I get wet fingers and hands going into the crux. Having to stop in some of the hardest moves to dry my hands and chalk up costs a lot of energy. In addition I keep getting cuts in several of my fingers causing me to slip out of the holds I´m jumping from on the crux dyno. When I was younger it was more important for me to do routes quickly. Now I find it more interesting to push my limit to see what my body is capable of. It can be a frustrating process but I think I will grow as a climber. What is the next goal once you have done it? There will be a lot of competitions this summer and autumn. I am excited to try Jumbo Love (9b) when I am finished here. I have spent so much time in Spain so it would be nice to have a project in another place.