Era Vella 8c+/9a by Mei Kotake

Mei Kotake, #4 in the world championship in 2018, reports on Insta that she has done Era Vella in Margalef, giving it an 8c+/9a grade. The five-star route was put up by Chris Sharma and became quickly the most frequently repeated 9a in the world. Later a hold broke making it harder and during the last two years, it has only been repeated twice.

Previous on her trip, the 154 cm tall, has done Mind Control (8c) on her sixth try and Fish eye (8c) on her fourth go. Having competed actively for ten years, especially since 2016, including also Ice events, she has not been climbing that much outdoors beside the last two years. Her previous best was 8b+ and 8A+. Noteworthy is that just a few days before travelling to Spain she was #2 in the Japan Cup.

Could you tell us more about your trip and the hard routes you have done?
In total, I stayed 5 weeks in Spain. In the first half, I climbed in Oliana and sent Fish eye and Mind Control to get an understanding of how to climb such long routes.

The latter half was spent in Margalef, where I needed 13 tries over eight days to send Era Vella. On the first day, I couldn’t top it out even after two hours. The next day I had a new feeling. I could figure out some moves and then did all of the moves. After I climbed the second half of the route without falling. I was sure that when I made the first half of it, I could do it. Then the moment came.

What about competitions in 2022?
I will compete only in Lead world cups as much as possible. Competitions are a different kind of fun compared to rock. I don’t want to be obsessed with competition results, I just want to enjoy my climbing, so I’ll go back on the rock soon!