Florian Wientjes does Floatin (8C+)

Florian Wientjes, who previously has sent 11 boulders 8C to 8C+, has made the first repeat of Ryuichi Murai's Floatin (8C+) in Mizugaki. The German saw videos of the line in 2020 and got really obsessed. "Back then it was just this amazing line but I did not dare to dream about it even after the first ascent. At the beginning of this year, it came more and more into my mind until I decided this year I want to climb this thing." (c) Xaver Louis

How did you prepare for the trip?
Floatin is one of these lines I really wanted to climb. So I decided in the first half of the year that I would go to Mizugaki. I did everything to make this trip possible. For preparation, I started with some basic strength training focusing on fingers and upper body and a lot of board climbing. The last 4 weeks before the trip it got more specific with a lot of campusboard training focusing on contact strength and pull speed.

How was the first sensation trying it?
The first time I grabbed the holds they felt way worse than I expected. I knew I had to give everything to make it possible. I also knew that I gave my very best in the preparation so I never thought that the move was impossible for me. The only thing that came to my mind was that I maybe would run out of time on this trip.

Can you tell us more about the process of projecting it?
In sessions 1-4 I mainly focused on the first move which is definitely the hardest move. I made a little progress every session starting from initiating the bad holds to getting more and more hight to reach the second hold. The second move felt easier and I was able to stick it in my second try. In session 5 I finally stuck the first move and did the second move but fell on the easy top part because I slipped. (The days before it rained a lot and I forgot to clean the top). That was a big bummer... but I knew I could do the move. After 15 min rest I tried it again and was able to link everything together. All in all, I had 19 days in Japan and 9 climbing days in Mizugaki. This trip was all about Floatin but I definitely have to come back to Japan for the more cultural part and to check out the climbing in the southern part of Japan.