Condé de choc (9a) by Adrian Houbron

Adrian Houbron, who last year did two 8c+', has repeated Tony Lamiche's Condé de choc (9a) in Entraygues.

Can you tell us more about doing your first 9a?
I discovered Entraygues only last year and I had in mind to try San ku kai (8c+), the king line of the crag. After several sessions on the route, I finally did it and I choose to try La moustache qui fâche (9a+) but to be honest, it was way too hard for me! At the same time, I tried the easier start of Deltaplane man direct (8c+) (start in the classic 7c and finish in the final bow shared with Delataplane Man and Condé de Choc). After two sessions, I managed to link up this combi and I told myself that I had nothing to lose by trying the moves at the bottom of Condé. I quickly managed to do the famous jump on the crimp, but a move just below was a big problem for me to go into a right finger jam. The end of the season was approaching and I still hadn't found a solution for this move, so I left Entraygues with only one idea in mind: come back stronger next year to do it!

This year, we came to Entraygues much earlier. From the first session, I found the sensations in the jump, and I immediately found a solution for the movement which caused me problems! During the second session, I focused on the moves of the second part of the route, but I felt much less good than last year. And to add some spice, the first hold of the route was starting to get wet, so we decided to take a day off, hoping that the hold would not be too wet. I came back a day later, with the knife between the teeth, the hold was not quite dry but we found a way to dry it just before a run. I put in a first try, I managed to catch the finger jam but I fell at the jump, fingers a little cold. I rested for 10 minutes, then I put a run again before I get too cold, I got to the jump again but with much warmer fingers and much more excitement, and I did the jump!

I did the less hard moves to get to the rest, where I stayed for almost 3 minutes, and I go back to the top section that I was a bit more apprehensive about. I passed the top crux and carried by the encouragements of Lilian and Justin, I made the last moves to reach the saving jug, it was an explosion of joy, then I make the final mantle and I clip the chain, without really realising what had just happened.