David sends „La Rambla“ (9a+) and „La Reina Mora“ (8c+/9a) in Siurana

David before setting off to jump to the next hold in "La Rambla" (c) Iuliia Leonova

David right before setting off for the famous dyno in „La Rambla“ (c) Iuliia Leonova

The two weeks trip to Siurana turned out to be a very successful one. After a couple of days of working on „La Rambla“ David could finally tick his first 9a+ ever. And right before leaving he finished the trip with a quick ascent of „La Reina Mora“, just next to La Rambla.

The trip to Catalonia was originally planned together with Ruben over New Year. But just before David got a foot injury which made it impossible for him to go. So he had to shift his climbing in Catalonia to February.

The main objective of the trip was to send La Rambla. In January David started to train for the upcoming bouldering season. Together with his coach Urs Stöcker he put up a new training plan in Zurich. Since the trip to Catalonia was actually planned earlier he didn’t train his endurance specifically. Instead Weiterlesen

2016 – the year in review

Thank you Escaladrome Blockwerk Hannover for the amazing support in 2016! We really enjoyed the time throughout the season. Especially our HardMoves Boulder League Team from Hanover with the best fans we could imagine!

We hope you also like the short article and the pics down below. They were originally published on the Hompage of the Escaladrome. We have translated the text into English as we believe it gives a good summary about our climbing achievements in 2016. For more details please click to our Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or 8a.nu (David, Ruben) accounts.

Let’s crush together in 2017!

From North to South and setting high



By Simon Lenke, David Firnenburg and Susanne Lieberknecht

Despite their young age, David and Ruben Firnenburg already belong to the climbing elite. No matter if it is bouldering or sport climbing, on rock or at competition, their name is often ranked top in the end. In recent years, the two native Hanoverians have achieved national and international success in climbing. Weiterlesen

Between lecture room, competition and rock

In the so called "Lichthof" in the main building of UZH

David learning in the so called „Lichthof“ in the main building of the university of Zurich (c) Ruben Firnenburg

We’ve contributed our first article to the thecircuitclimbing.com below which is run by Eddie Fowke. He is a well-known and very friendly photographer and writer in the climbing scene and travels to almost every IFSC World Cup around the world. He’s a friend to every athlete in the circuit of rock and competition climbing. We are happy to work with him more often from now on!

If you like the article, spread the word so that everyone can benefit from our thoughts about the dual task of combining performance climbing and education in life. There are more articles about more topics to come!

Anyone who wants to study psychology at the University of Zurich (UZH), has to undergo a packed program with a year-round average of 40 hours per week or sometimes even 60-70 hours during the lecture period – and this within the confines of a public university where there is neither integration nor support of the sports system or athlete’s commitments. This sets a pretty tough schedule for athletes like David where competitive sport training often depends on free space and individual design of the study course, and where training starts to amount to a full time job. “In fact the first year at the UZH in psychology is a screening year. Virtually, they want to clear out every second student. That’s what here is called the assessment year“, David explains. Weiterlesen

„New Age“ (8a+, 5 pitches) at Swiss Rätikon

The crew. F.l.t.r. Julian, Ruben, David and Michi (c) Julian Bückers Photography

The crew. F.l.t.r. Julian, Ruben, David and Michi (c) Julian Bückers Photography

In the beginning of October we’ve spent three days at Swiss Rätikon for some multipitch climbing. Rätikon to climbers is well known for its hard alpine climbs on outstanding limestone and the surrounding beauty of mountain nature. It is located up in the mountains on an altitude above 2000 meters and is divided into two parts, a Swiss and an Austrian but the walls are mostly south facing so you predominantly climb on the Swiss side. The closest village is called Schuders consisting of only a handful houses. This time we were climbing at the Schweizereck in the region around Grüscher Älpli besides the other parts of the wall such as Kirchlispitzen (known for routes like Silbergeier, Unendliche Geschichte and WoGü), Drusenfluh and Drusentürmen. Weiterlesen

New Base Line (8B+) in Magic Wood

This April I went to Magic Wood for a couple of days to work on hard boulders I couldn’t finish the last time I was there. On the very top of my tick list there was New Base Line, a boulder problem which was originally put up by grand master Bernd Zangerl as an 8C. Meanwhile it has seen several attempts by the world’s best boulderers and got downgraded to 8B+.

It is not only hard. It looks also fine. A noble crack line running from right to left with a slight rise through an overhanging wall. In the middle of the wall above the crack line there are nicely shaped crimps and side holds heading up to the top edge. It is just perfect. A dream boulder. This is probably why it is supposed to be one of the best in the world. Weiterlesen

8A’s during New Year in Ticino

During New Year we’ve been to Ticino for bouldering and repeated some nice boulders in the 8A range. We’ve edited the little video above which shows a couple of 8A’s in Chironico we were able to send together.

It was the first time we haven’t been to Spain over Christmas and New Year’s Eve since a couple of years now. It was bouldering on nice granite instead of lead climbing in long limestone walls in Catalunya. A different feeling. As every time we leave thousands problems unrepeated. That’s why soon we’ll be back in Ticino :-)

Featured problems in the video:
3° Carne (8A)
Rah Plats Plats (8A)
The Arete With The Pocket (8A)
Hineruage/Deep red (8A)
Blonch Addiction (8A)
Willenberg Dach (8A)

Enjoy and CU on the rocks ;-) David & Ruben

Alps Session Nr. 1

After Fontainebleau became too hot in the beginning of May I headed over into the Alps visiting some of its best bouldering areas such as Magic Wood in Switzerland and Silvretta in Austria. I was lucky that there always was someone to record my hard ascents. In this case thanks to Michael Paulus, Georg Grubner and Ilari Kelloniemi! Here is a short video clip with three top-class problems I’ve done in May and June. I hope you like it ;-)

Cheers David