23 August 2022
The Finnish Line 8C by Antoine Girard
Antoine Girard has repeated Nalle Hukkataival's classic, in Rocklands. Video on his Insta.
"It was in 2019, during my first trip to Rocklands I saw Finnish Line for the first time. I found this line amazing, it was, without doubt, the most beautiful boulder I had ever seen. When I left South Africa, I promised myself to come back and try this bouldering when I will be strong enough. With COVID, 3 years passed without me being able to put my fingers in this boulder. I had to wait until August 2022. I arrived in Rocklands with this unique objective of climbing the Finnish Line, so I put everything in place to realize this dream. I organized all my climbing sessions around this project, trying to not invest myself too much in other hard boulders in order to keep skin and strength. I spent 9 sessions in the block divide in 3 weeks. It is a boulder that requires really important logistics. Falling is almost forbidden on the last two meters of the boulder, so I started all my sessions by repeating, again and again, the end of the boulder which must be worth 7B. Then I put tries in the crux (still with rope) and I ended my session by putting 4 or 5 tries from the bottom. The complexity of bouldering lies in the fact that the holds are extremely sharp, which considerably limits the number of attempts at each session and at the same time it is also very difficult to try this boulder every single day. All these constraints together allowed me to try the crux about 10 times per session and to put 3 sessions per week.
This is clearly the boulder that required me the most physical and mental investment. The apprehension of the fall was very difficult to put aside during my first good attempts falling after the crux, the sensations are clearly different without the rope. During the sending session, I did not feel very good on the rope but finally, the sensations came back quite quickly as soon as I started from the ground. I managed to pass the crux on the second try of the day by catching the left hand perfectly. It was the perfect try to top the boulder and not falling for the sixth time after the crux. The end of the boulder went pretty well. My 40 roped climbs of the last 8 movements allowed me to move forward with confidence despite the big shot of adrenaline that made me shake on each move. In the evening I went to Quintessential, an 8B realized in 4 tries, nothing better to end this incredible day!"
"It was in 2019, during my first trip to Rocklands I saw Finnish Line for the first time. I found this line amazing, it was, without doubt, the most beautiful boulder I had ever seen. When I left South Africa, I promised myself to come back and try this bouldering when I will be strong enough. With COVID, 3 years passed without me being able to put my fingers in this boulder. I had to wait until August 2022. I arrived in Rocklands with this unique objective of climbing the Finnish Line, so I put everything in place to realize this dream. I organized all my climbing sessions around this project, trying to not invest myself too much in other hard boulders in order to keep skin and strength. I spent 9 sessions in the block divide in 3 weeks. It is a boulder that requires really important logistics. Falling is almost forbidden on the last two meters of the boulder, so I started all my sessions by repeating, again and again, the end of the boulder which must be worth 7B. Then I put tries in the crux (still with rope) and I ended my session by putting 4 or 5 tries from the bottom. The complexity of bouldering lies in the fact that the holds are extremely sharp, which considerably limits the number of attempts at each session and at the same time it is also very difficult to try this boulder every single day. All these constraints together allowed me to try the crux about 10 times per session and to put 3 sessions per week.
This is clearly the boulder that required me the most physical and mental investment. The apprehension of the fall was very difficult to put aside during my first good attempts falling after the crux, the sensations are clearly different without the rope. During the sending session, I did not feel very good on the rope but finally, the sensations came back quite quickly as soon as I started from the ground. I managed to pass the crux on the second try of the day by catching the left hand perfectly. It was the perfect try to top the boulder and not falling for the sixth time after the crux. The end of the boulder went pretty well. My 40 roped climbs of the last 8 movements allowed me to move forward with confidence despite the big shot of adrenaline that made me shake on each move. In the evening I went to Quintessential, an 8B realized in 4 tries, nothing better to end this incredible day!"
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