13 Jul 9th club: Zorko and Mercene

Matjaz Zorko and Christian Mercene on their 9as

Despite the anomalous heat that is squeezing the whole world, some top climbers still manage to print hard routes, perhaps looking for the coolest hours or the most sheltered cliffs.

Matjaz Zorko spent ten days on Umetnost, one of the last pitches he had left to climb in Ter. Immediately before leaving for a journey between Spain and France in search of hard routes to compete with, Matjaz managed to climb this 9a, recounting its absolute beauty. There are still several lines to climb in this area and we are sure that Zorko will get to work as soon as he returns from his climbing trip.

Christian Mercene instead took advantage of the coolness that hovers over Mt. Charleston and I know he took home a nice climb of a pitch he had been working on for a year. After some power endurance training and a few sections of the route replicated in the gym, Christian managed to climb Manphibian, the famous 9a graded masterpiece by Andy Raether.

From athletes’ IG page

Alessandro Palma