Katalin Paertan does Mother Night 8A+ (B)

Katalin Paertan has done Mother Night (8B) in Schöllenen, giving it a personal 8A+ grade. ”What an amazing boulder! At first I wasn't sure whether I had any chance on it but then quickly figured out all the moves and got incredibly close in my second session. Today my attempts were much less promising and I got more and more tired but somehow I had one very good last go of the day where I managed to fight my way up.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I was planning on trying Mother Night this trip as it has one of the coolest features I have ever seen on rock and I really like steep technical climbing on slopers. I was not sure whether it was a realistic goal as the move out to the sloper is a bit far and it requires a good amount of upper body strenght and I have never really seen any female climbers on it.

It took me 3 sessions, in the first session I figured out most of the moves and it started feeling possible. In the second session I stuck the remaining move and I made a good link, which prompted me to make my first attempts from the start. I got really far twice, falling on the second to last and last hard move before my energy gave out. On the third day I was feeling quite sore already and struggled to give any promising send goes and got a bit frustrated since I knew I could do it.

Somehow on the very last go of the day I stuck the move out to the sloper quite well and was able to give a proper fight up to the top. I am really glad that it still went down, as my knee was getting very sore from the heel-toe-cam and it is starting to get quite hot here. Now I can enjoy the rest of the time on other great boulders.

What about your personal 8A+ grade?
Yes, it is originally graded 8B, but for that it felt slightly too easy and I can't normally climb that grade this fast. On 8a.nu it has also received a few downgrades already, some comments even saying 8a/+. My friends who climbed it two years ago also made a consensus on 8a+ which I also agree with. Of course it is a bit difficult to grade because the style is very unusual and some very strong climbers struggle a lot on it while it is the first of the grade for some less experienced, but for my skill level 8a+ seemed fitting.