Ascending „Action Directe“ in the past and today


David in the „flight phase“ on one of the world most famous climbing moves – the first jump from mono to finger pocket of Action Directe (c) Lars Scharl

Please, find the original article on the website of The Circuit Climbing!

Wolfgang Güllich and Action Directe

With the first ascent of Action Directe in Frankenjura Wolfgang Güllich introduced a new dimension to climbing. During the years before, he had already revolutionized the difficulty levels. In 1984, he climbed the worldwide first 8b, „Kanal im Rücken“ in Altmühltal. And in 1987, he also sent the world’s first 8c, „Wall Street“, in Frankenjura.

Taking difficulty to the next level in 1991, Action Directe became the test piece for the world’s climbing elite. At first Güllich assessed it UIAA XI, corresponding to 8c+/9a on the French scale. But then, during the following years, the climbing community agreed to make it a gold standard for the 9a level. Even today it is considered a very special route. Many world class climbers found it a hard nut to crack.

However, Action Directe might not have been the first 9a. Weiterlesen

Black Label (9a) in Frankenjura

At Schneiderloch: (1) Burn for You (2) Corona (3) Black Label (4) Pantera

At Schneiderloch: (1) Burn for You (2) Corona (3) Black Label (4) Pantera

Two days ago I was able to send Black Label (9a) at Schneiderloch (Ailsbach-Valley) in Frankenjura. It’s a new route by Markus Bock in 2013 which had only seen one repeat by Alex Megos last year. Now I have secured the 3rd ascent of this test piece.

During a comp last year Markus Jung recommended it to me. He was talking about the moves and I became excited to try it. After the comp was over I put it on my tick list and when I’ve headed to Nuremberg to live there for a while it became very close. I just had to wait for the right moment to try it. Around the Easter holiday my brother Ruben visited me and we drove out to the crag to give it the first tries. Weiterlesen