Heim nach Afrika 9a by Martina Demmel

Martina Demmel, who started climbing only in 2017, has done Heim nach Afrika (9a) in Kochel. It is a link-up that first Pirmin Bertle reported the FA, calling it 9a/+. Later it was discovered that Philipp Hrozek had done it more than ten years ago, but never reported it, thinking it was 8c+/9a. In two interesting and very much read-worthy long Insta posts the 21-year-old says that the link-up has been her priority for two years. (c) Felix Bub

"The whole period, I've surprisingly never felt unpatient with myself as it probably was one of the first routes which was in the range of "finding out if it's possible at all & not when"...🙃 totally enjoyed this luckily steady process what makes me curious for more of this soon😁❤️‍🔥!! Falling more in love with this 🧩-solving game by finding all those game-changing bodypositions, chalk-up points, releasing the tension moments and simply remembering it all (what's been more difficult than expected...🤪).

I've to admit that I was quite surprised/sad about how many people were only focused on asking me about my opinion on the grade instead of congratulating or being interested in the story/feelings behind at all...🥺 maybe it's normal but I've never noticed it in such an obvious extent🤷‍♀️."

In 2021, Martina became the first-ever female to have won the 8a annual onsight ranking game. In total, she onsighted 18 routes 8a+ and harder in 2021. If we start from 7c and harder she did a stunning 138 onsights the last year. Amazingly, she did her first 7c onsight when she had only climbed for 1.5 years.