Niki Rusev, 18, FA’s Kuche Marka (9a+)

Niki Rusev, who was #7 in the European Combined Championship two months ago, has made the FA of Kuche Marka (9a+) in Karlukovo. ”One of the hardest things I’ve ever done, crazy line and crazy process. I’m so happy I climbed the first 9a+ in Bulgaria. When I was trying it I was sure this route has the potential to be something harder than 9a. The grade wasn’t important anymore because what I wanted was to send this route exactly, not any other 9a+ but this one.”

Can you tell us more about the send and the process behind?
This is definitely a reminder to myself to never give up, because last year I almost did 😅. Prohodna cave itself is very famous with ,, The eyes of god’’ (two wholes on the roof of the cave that look like eyes). It’s a big tourist destination but also for climbing. It all started when @fazabrushes bolted three new lines on a small sector around the corner of the cave in 2020. In 2022 we decided to try the ,,easiest one’’ and at first I remember I was not enthused to try hard because I couldn’t do half of the moves but a few weeks later I did them all. It’s crazy how much less time you have in one season to try it in good conditions. In 2023 I spent around 2 months on it but there was so much rain and it just didn’t go⛈️☔️😔.

The first session of this season was different, this time I felt stronger on the crimps and the body memory made its job and quickly got back on track with some good links. I had strength to make only one good try for a day, so I usually arrived early on the route, warm up and try ones before the sun comes up because it’s impossible to climb during the shines, even after the sun comes down. The route stays warm and later on in most of the times comes some kind of moisture that bothers me. I knew it was about good conditions and today everything was perfect. This time it just happened 😌.