Marsupilami 9a by Philipp Gaßner

Philipp Gaßner has done his second 9a, Marsupilami in Kochel after some ten sessions. In 2014, at age 14, he did his first out of twelve 8c+'. Picture by Basti Scheibel on Nangijala 8c+.

"The route was first ascended by Toni Lamprecht in 2006 as Kochel’s first 9a and it is probably still the hardest testpiece in the area. The route represents the style of hard rock climbing in the bavarian pre alps pretty well. It’s 30 meters long and it can be characterized by a lot of very technical and physical moves, finishing with the bouldery crux on the top. In total it took me 15 tries to send it plus some tries to figure out all of the tricky and complex beta. On top of that, it was super nice to spend the day with Toni, who has put so much effort into establishing all of the hard climbs there."

How can you explain your great progress in 2020, having done also four 8c+'?
I tried to focus on certain projects instead of spontaneously trying routes that I am psyched on but then don‘t complete. I also managed to climb with a better mindset than I‘ve done in previous years.