Pain makes me stronger, every day! 8c (+) flash by Moritz Winkler

Moritz Winkler has flashed in Frankenjura. The 26-year-old was pushing hard on rock and in comps as a teenager and had previously only done one 8c+.

"Short route, short story. On the fourth climbing day in a row, I wanted to support my girlfriend in her project, when an old friend from youth competitions showed up between the trees in the forest of Frankenjura, Hans Radetzki. He told me about a small wall I had never heard about with bouldery moves and a kneebar. My endurance level was basically at zero because I was bouldering in Spain in recent weeks. Exactly my business I thought since routes with kneebars are my favourites. I just wanted to have a look, but then somehow I took my harness, chalk and shoes. Hans had a good try, but unfortunately, he did not make it. He told me that he would have a 10 minutes rest before the next attempt and this was my chance to go for it, ... Thirty seconds later, I clipped the anchor.

Not expecting to climb or even try anything that difficult, I was really unprepared. I had forgotten to take my liquid chalk (my usual routine) and had not taped my finger with the pulley I damaged a year ago. Nevertheless, I felt confident and fortunately, I was able to borrow Hans’ kneepad. All in all, I spent a maximum of 10 minutes at the crack which gave my girlfriend just a short break before she was able to go back to her project again. ;-) In summary, it was a lucky shot for me, which is also really a good description of the attempt. Perfect moves which were completely my style and an important intuitively positioned foothold at the right time. With this foothold, Hans was also able to climb the route after a few more tries."

How has your climbing life been over the last few years?
After climbing many competitions and finally starting in my first lead WC, I spend too much time on Hangboarsd and plastic. I had enough of training and lead climbing for a long time and I just went on rocks, mostly fun bouldering and I also started really enjoying cleaning rocks and doing FAs. That's something good you can be proud of and maybe last a bit longer for posterity. This is also the reason, why I joined the DAV Felskader bw (DAV Rockteam, for bolting and doing "unnormal" stuff at the rocks). Sadly I had super bad Injuries to my foot. Then I had finger problems since last year. After this long time of getting a week, I felt a change in my body and I wanted to get a bit stronger and maybe climb some lead routes with my girlfriend again. So I sadly couldn't train for a long time and never really tried super hard in the past years...