Mona Kellner ticks Der Schwarze Schwan (8c)

Mona Kellner, with four 8c’s under her belt, has completed Der Schwarze Schwan (8c) in Ötztal.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
It was the first hard route I tried when I moved to Innsbruck October 24. I really enjoyed the route from the first day on. It has two boulders with a good rest in between. The first on follows a narrow crimpy finger crack with wired shoulder move and the second crux are some far moves mit bad high feet. The first time I tried the route, I had a knee injury and couldn’t do one move with a heel in the lower crux. I connected the rest fast but had to give it up for that season. Then in spring before I made it back to the route I had to deal with a inflamed finger for some month. In November I finally felt fit again and got close on my second day on it but the next week the first snow arrived and I had to wait four months to try it again.

This weekend, I took advantage of the early warm spring temperatures and went back there. I knew I can send it fast but the first try didn’t feel so good. In the second attempt I struggled a bit in the first boulder but after the rest, the second boulder felt easy and I was not pumped at all and made it nervously to the top.

What are your plans for the spring?
I have I few routes in mind around Innsbruck but haven’t tried them yet and I wanna go to arco a few times.