Christopher Cosser climbs Ace of Spades (9a+)

Christopher Cosser, who placed 16th in the Tokyo Olympics, has done Ace of Spades (9a+) in Poptire Cave. The South African did his first two 8C boulders last year, after he retired from the competition scene. Ten weeks ago he sent Creature From the Black Lagoon (8C+) and in September Moonshine (9a). (c) Finn Stack

Can you tell us more about doing your first 9a+?
The process on Ace of Spades started for me in 2021 when I first came to the US. It was actually the first route I got on in the States. Ive tried the route a few days every season, but never invested enough time to see the process through until now. Competition climbing and training for comps kept me preoccupied. Earlier this year I got my Green Card, moved to Colorado, and decided to fully commit myself to climbing outside instead of competing. I fairly quickly was able to put together Creature From the Black Lagoon, and then set my sights on routes. Returning back to Ace was a pretty easy learning curve. Unfortunately since the last time I’d been on it, a couple of key holds had broken, one of them being a crucial foot in the first boulder and the other being a resting hold before the final boulder. Fortunately those breaks didn’t prevent me from doing the route, but made it constantly harder.

Doing Ace of Spades and Creature makes me the first South African to have climbed 5.15a, as well as the first to have climbed v16. I couldn’t have done it without the resources available to me in the US. I’m incredibly proud of where I’m from, and I hope that this can inspire my community back home, who are pushing the local level higher and higher. I’m now back in Colorado, with my eyes set on some stellar routes and boulders nearby.