9b FA again by Pirmin Bertle

Pirmin Bertle has done his second 9b FA, La Barrière in Jansegg, which is a link-up made of four different routes. Video from a similar link-up which he later down graded to 9a+ due to new sequences have been found. From the full detailed report. "I scared the chamois below already before when I screamed out load three times unwillingly after having done the second boulder. Now as I prepare the jump, peeling myself out the hook, onto the two minuscule foot holds, crimping both the two finger pocket right and the open pinch left in order to fly closer to the wall, and as I fly and as I hold and than control: The chamois run again. I am sorry to the silence. But this is just too UNBELIEVABLE!" In total. Pirmin has done 15 9a's, 4 9a+' and 2 9b's, out of which all but five 9a's, FAs. Including also three 8C's and two 8C+'s, all off them FA, he has one of the most impressive ticklist in the history of climbing. In the 8a All time Combined ranking game, he is runner up after Adam Ondra. It should also be mentioned that Ondra has suggested a down grade of Pirmin's other 9b. How have you training wise been able to step up to 9a again? Since the ascent of La Cène du (Roi) Lézard in November last year with an ultimate “after-Altiplano-weight” of only 64kg (compared to 67kg now) I again reached another level, though my “advanced” age of 33 (and the 3kg more), can’t be really be related to training. In the ten months since I have been three times in a gym, and only from time to time on the tree-boulder in my garden. And normally only for active regeneration than for hard boulder sessions. (And not a single unit of more specific training, no campus, no weights, no stretching, no antagonists, no I-even-do-not-know-the-names-of-all-these-devices…) What brings me directly to the more recent preconditions of my shape: Slight height training in La Saume on 2200-2500m, walking a lot with a lot of weight – Céüse with my daughter and gear comes close to 40kg (good for the endurance), again sending a lot. In this case one day projects. The preparation in La Barrière then is based a lot on skin management. I passed on the way to France and on the way back four and two weeks before the sending and each time cut the important spots on the fingers, let them heal and had them reinforced like this. The last two sessions then I had in a Via Ferrata style on a fixed rope, all alone up there. This is important because it permits the ideal preparation rhythm independent from the availability of other climbers. One day on, two days off. A lot of repetitions in the new jump beta to ensure precision even in a tired state. And in the end the perfect point of time, the self handicapping and the courage to believe in it despite all this.