19 October 2019
Jungfraumarathon 9a by Alexander Rohr and Katherine Choong
Alexander Rohr and Katherine Choong have done Jungfraumarathon in Gimmelwald. Here is Choong's report with a picture by Julia Cassous.
"Gimmelwald is a magical place. Surrounded by snow-covered mountains in a peaceful valley where, apart from a few cow bellows and the screams of climbers falling under the relay, it is an extremely peaceful place. A waterfall a few meters above our heads, it's my favorite place. It's therefore quite natural that I chose this place to invest time and energy in a new project.
The route is about twenty meters, overhanging (35/45 degrees), with hard movements on bad holds. The crux consists of holding a bad shoulder to go far for a pinch. Since last year, I have been falling into this movement that consists for dwarves like me in a very dynamic movement that I could not succeed in the redpoint attempt. I started last year in October. I quickly found my beta and I was already falling into the dynamic movement of the crux. Very close to clip the chain in November 2018, the snow forced me to stop.
The bad weather in the spring did not let me go back until early June 2019. It's not a good excuse but it was hard for me with the extreme heat of summer. In parallel, I started the world cups at the beginning of July, which didn't go well. I arrived at the end of the summer and finally, I had not progressed at all in my project on the cliff, on the contrary, and at the end of the first part of the disastrous competition season. I was stubborn in my method in the crux of Jungfrau Marathon and I was beginning to have doubts about my ability to clip the chains one day. No remarkable ascent this year outdoor, no very good results in comps, it became very difficult mentally to keep the motivation and confidence in me and it was felt in my attempts in the route.
Last week, not even able to reach the crux, a friend finally suggested that I should try the guys' method, which involves putting my foot further sideways. 100% sure that I had tried this method the year before and that it didn't suit me, I still try the beta and I finally could do the movement almost statically, a relief for me! Then something clicks in my mind and I was again motivated and confident. The next session the route was ticked at the 1st try of the day! I really feel a little stupid for persisting with my method, convinced that the guys' method was too morpho for me.
It was a memorable day, surrounded by many friends who encouraged me, sharing this moment with them made it even more special. When I clipped the chains, it was, first of all, an explosion of joy. The joy of having once again exceeded my limits physically but above all mentally. All the effort, the time invested, the sweat, the frustration finally made sense."
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