soeben hat mich eine Email von Team Mitglied Manuel Brunn erreicht:

“hab am Samstag “The Elder Statesman” klettern können. Bin dann doch noch 4 mal knapp gefallen, bevor das Ding endlich ging…”

“The Elder Statesman“ (9a) for Manuel Brunn

In mid October, Manuel Brunn could tick “The Elder Statesman” in Frankenjura, making it the first repetition of the route. The first ascent of The Elder Statesman was made by Markus Bock in 2011 who suggested the grade 9a/9a+. It is a rather untypical Franconian route, with 28 moves on mostly small crimps. In the following, Manuel reports about the route:

“I first checked out the route in 2011, but “only” the easier version, “The List Rites” (8c+). That one starts to the left and shares the upper part with The Elder Statesman. This summer, Daniel Jung motivated me to try the right start together. We spent three days in July checking out the moves, but due to temperatures up to 30° we escaped to the nearby little lake most of the times.

After a bouldering trip to South Africa, Daniel and me met in Frankenjura again, psyched to give Elder Statesman some more tries. Already on the first day, the moves went quite well and I could even climb the different sequences. However, after some considerable progress and after I had almost climbed the route – but failed as my foot slipped away on the last hard move – it looked like it would become a serious mind game. I started to doubt if I could ever reach my high point again, and the unpredictable weather conditions in the Frankenjura in fall added some extra pressure. Fortunately, after two more days everything worked out well and, supported by the Jung-brothers who I had a great and funny time with in Burggrub, I could tick the route.

I think that – compared to other routes in this grade – the suggested grade for “The Last Rites” (8c+) which I could also climb is pretty appropriate. “The Elder Statesman” is definitely harder. However, due to the effort I had to put into it and the relatively fast ascent I think that it rather should check in at 9a.”

Herzlichen Glückwunsch!!!

Bilder: Markus Bauer