21 June 2025

Akira Waku, 54, first to link Dendrobium (8C)

Akira Waku, who started to climb at age 35 with no sports background, has put up Dendrobrium (8C) in Shiobara, after projecting it for 25 days. In practice it is a new link up, connecting Hydra, reverse UMA and finish up with Kalamba.

โ€Immediately after the completion of Hydrangea (8C) 6 years ago, I was able to solve all the moves in a 6-day effort and started connection tries but the result was eliminated.

Since all the parts are on the existing line, it may not be said to be a pure "first ascentโ€, but it is called "first climb" because it is a line that no one has climbed yet", including the backflow part of UMA.

In terms of grade, it is definitely more difficult than UMA (V14), and personally, I felt that it was a little more difficult than Babel and Barth (I think it's probably easier), so I chose V15 first.

Even if you are over 54 years old, you can still challenge the limit And I think that being able to climb has been a great food for further goals.โ€
4 comments
Sort by:
Date
Reply
Most commented
Jorge Diaz-Rullo FAโ€™s Cafรฉ Colombia (?) after 240 sessions
Jorge Diaz-Rullo reports on Instagram that he has made the first ascent of Cafe Colombia in Margalef. At 27, heโ€™s already stacked four 9b+ sends and now heโ€™s adโ€ฆ
Sean Bailey FAโ€™s Duality of Man (9c)
Sean Bailey reports on Instagram that he has done the first ascent of Duality of Man (9c) in Dry Canyon. โ€ After four total years and three seasons of climbing,โ€ฆ
Jorge Diaz-Rullo proposes 9c for Cafรฉ Colombia
Jorge Diaz-Rullo elaborates on the reasons for him to suggest 9c for Cafรฉ Colombia on Instagram, which he took down last week after projecting it for 240 sessioโ€ฆ
Related
Han Seuran does Catharsis (8B+)
Han Seuran, who last autumn successfully climbed Puro Dreaming (8c+), has now, after only six sessions, completed Catharsis (8B+) at Shiobara. Back in 2011, Tomโ€ฆ
Gakido 8C+ by Ryuichi Murai
Ryuichi Murai, who previously has done three 8C+ FAs, has made the second ascent of Shinichiro Nomuraโ€™s Gakido (8C+) in Chigobutai. Two weeks ago, he did one moโ€ฆ
Akira Waku, who at age 48 did Hydrangea (8C) in 2019 , has repeated Ryuichi Murai's Birth of the Cool (8B+) in Shiobara. Waku started climbing at 35 and didn't have any previous sports background. As there was no gym around he built one which he still runs.Can you tell us more about your second 8C? โ€ฆ