05 Jul 9th club: Robinson, Ondra and Bouyoud

Paul Robinson, Adam Ondra and Mathieu Bouyoud on 9as.

The American team is unleashing its claws in the lead world cup, but even on the rock there is no shortage of achievements. In the midst of all the news that can be found in the Boulder section curated by Alberto Milani, today we are starting from Paul Robinson in South Africa.

Strange to say, the pairing Paul Robinson-South Africa is not linked this time to bouldering. The American talent has in fact grabbed a rare repeat of Legacy, Rocklands‘ famous 9a. A few years ago Fred Nicole bolted this beautiful line and started trying it, but he couldn’t find the FA. He opened the project and Giuliano Cameroni signed the first ascent in 2019, proposing the grade of 9a. A few days later, Nicole himself succeeded in the first repetition. Robinson describes the route as a true masterpiece and compares it to a 8B+ boulder. However, due to the bad landing, the bolting was necessary to be able to climb the start with the necessary safety.

From South Africa we move to France, more precisely to La grotte des eaux mortes. Right here the very strong Mathieu Bouyoud freed a new extreme pitch, between a family commitment and a work one. The pitch is called On a tous au fond du mental and Mathieu proposes the grade of 9a. Like many of his more difficult climbs, the route is located near his home, on a cliff where he can go in the short free-time he finds. Bouyoud bolted the line a few years ago, but he never found it dry… This year the story was different and here is a new 9a!

Always divided between Arco and home, Adam Ondra dedicated himself to a new pitch at Deravá Skala. In this cave he rediscovered an old project, which he then freed and for which he proposes the grade of hard 9a. The hardest start still remains to be freed, for now the pitch is called Hogo Fogo and it seems anything but easy…

From athletes’ IG page

Alessandro Palma