Ascents in Europe by Jakob Schubert

Got myself the perfect Christmas present by achieving my last big goal of 2024. Sending not just my hardest but also one of my favorite boulders ever! This has been a real rollercoaster ride for me, as it was high on my list of goals for the year but at the same time second to both the World Champs in Bern and Project Big. I went from feeling good on the first sessions to basically being about to give up along the way, as I felt that the boulder required more focus and attention than I seemed to have available. The ride had it all, from inconsistent progress and setbacks, a slip after the hard part, having to wait out bad conditions before feeling worse again on the boulder but somehow battling through, a story of personal perseverance that I'm grateful climbing can provide me with 🥳🥳

Happy Christmas everyone!

FA. Thsnks for showing me this amazing line Heiko 🙏

So cool to finally send this one, such a legendary route (FA in 1996 by Stefan Fürst) Last year one hold in the crux would just never dry up but this season it was finally all dry and I was able to do it in my 2nd try (this year).

My biggest mental battle so far! Thanks Adam for the vision and inviting me to join the process. Really proud of this one, it has been one hell of a ride!

B.I.G. feels so strange to grade because it really doesn’t feel that bad if you try just the moves. The crux is an 8a+ boulder problem and by now I have it dialed so well that I can do it easily even multiple times in a row. But because of the very powerful style of the boulder it’s way more difficult to do it after 80+ moves of climbing.

To me it felt a whole step beyond Perfecto Mundo which seems confirmed at 9b+. This alongside reflections with Adam made me propose 9c for B.I.G. While in my eyes the range for grades up to 9b seem to have settled due to the total amount of routes and ascents, this doesn’t yet seem the case for 9b+ and 9c, where the possibilities for comparison are still very limited. There are not even 10 climbers that claim to have sent 9b+, and the total of routes graded 9b+ or harder is still below 15, most of which are yet to see repeats. This makes it obvious that confines for both 9b+ and 9c are still blurry and will develop over time and through ascents and shared opinions. I hope they will come soon!

So amazing 😍

Big Paw next time!

My nemesis boulder. Somehow I always really struggled on the crux move and it felt like one of the hardest in Bavona for me, styles just matter a lot in Bouldering I guess. Happy to finally tick it off!

Such a cool one! Nice night session flash with Misha and Alberto! Not sure about the grade, might be easier than 8b..

Such a cool line! Did Bella Luna a few years ago but now with the added top out it's so much better. Didn't check out the top and just went for it, pretty scatchy but somehow made it Not sure if it really deserves 8b+, might still be 8b. Time will tell..

even soft for 8a in my opinion

8c+/9a Such a good one, very cool boulder problem at the lip!

First Ascent. Thanks a lot to Heiko Wilhelm for bolting and showing me this amazing line. Might be high end 8c but probably not hard enough for 8c+, time will tell

Video: https://youtu.be/ukm8wVEAs5o?si=gF_TZ82JSM3Cd6rD It’s been more than five years since I first tried the route “Clash of the Titans” back home in Tirol which was first climbed by Alex Megos in 2017. Alex graded it 9a+ back then but to me it always felt substantially harder than that. I’ve done quite a few 9a+ and also 9bs but none of them took as much effort as this route. However, after I finally sent rather quickly last year I wasn’t sure anymore if it really deserves an upgrade making me hesitant to publish the ascent and have a clear opinion on the grade. After all, the route doesn’t fit my preferred style, which is crimping, but there are quite a few open handholds on this one, which gave me a hard time. Earlier this year, the opportunity came up to go back together with Stefano Ghisolfi who checked out the route as well and gave his opinion. Check out the video on my YT channel to find out more.

Project big was wet again so I had to try something else finally. Tried this fun bouldery route a bit 6 years ago, 2nd try this trip. Maybe not the proudest line but definitely fun to climb!

4th ascent, 2nd try. Such an amazing route and a great day with Adam and Babsy 💪🏻

Such a cool route from Stefano Ghisolfi! Fell from the very top once because the good heel hook broke but luckily found some new (bit harder but not grade changing) beta and send the next go. Took me two 2 day trips to Arco, first one with horrible conditions though. Might come back for the Lonely Mountain which is basically the same route with four different moves and also just as hard in my opinion, let's see. I like to come to Arco so why not

2nd ascent after Will. I now fulfilled the ultimate task to do all the hard routes in this sector in my 9 climbing day of the trip, so psyched 😄 This one was hard for me, had to find new beta since I couldn’t do the move Will did. If you like the style it‘s probably similarly hard as Jungle Speed though 🤔 Check my video of King Capella and la Capella here:

3rd ascent after Will and Alex. 3rd try and right after flashing Jungle Speed, such a sick day! Really my style and with Alex‘s new beta I‘d grade this one 9a+ as well especially since I graded La Capella 9a+ and I think they are similarly hard. But who knows, this is my suggestion 😉

Yes! Probably my hardest flash so far, at least I really struggled and had to fight 😅 8c+/9a, hard to grade after the flash since I definitely didn’t climb it optimally.. Thanks for the beta and support Alfons 🙏

Just 2 hours after King Capella, such a sick day! One day I had to give King Capella a break because of my skin, so I briefly checked this one out. Because I loved the style so much I could do it very fast on the same day as King Capella then. Thanks to Alex Megos for sharing his great beta with me. Really didn’t feel like a 9b to me, so gotta go with 9a+ on this one.. Video:

2nd repetition after Will Bosi (FA) and Alex Megos. It took me 4 days of work. Such a cool route, definitely my style, a very bouldery crimpy route! Since it‘s so sharp the skin management was almost the biggest challenge for me. It went down too quick to agree on 9b+ so I think hard 9b could be more appropriate 🤔 Uncut phone footage following soon! Video:

It took me many tries to finally stick the dyno but once I did I could send! Such an amazing line! Definitely harder than Alasha for me but less scary..

Flash. One of the best in Mallorca!!

Flash. 8a+/8b

On sight

1st go, did the left (harder) exit first. Such a fun jump!

Flash. Such a good one!

1st repetition What a vision of a climb. Thanks for finding and establishing this perfect route Chris Sharma Grading in dws is difficult and weird, I will post more about what I think soon.

Flash

Flash

Such a sick one! Dabbed on the jummp once so got rid of the launchpad, then fell on my ass really badly but luckily send soon after haha Feels more like an 8B to me..

My 3rd 8b+ flash, so psyched! Thanks for the beta and the motivation Michael Piccolruaz You really gotta activate the beast mode for this one, so I thought it might be good to flash, since in a flash go you always try way harder than ever

Wow such an amazing one, Brione never disappoints. Should have flashed it but oh well. Crazy dynamic moves on good holds and the perfect send to end a perfect 3 day trip!

Great Boulder! Probably more 8a+ than 8b for me

So psyched to send this one in one session together with Nicolai! Could be 8b+, could be 8c I dunno, grading in Bouldering is too hard. Anyways it's an amazing Boulder that climbs so well!

Night session on this one to finish our first day of the trip. What a Boulder, it can't get any better than this!!!

I have done this one a couple of years ago already, but had to send it again, such a good one!!

took us a bit time to find a beta that we liked, but once we got it it went done quickly. amazing rock!

cool jump move, doesn't deserve the 8b grade in my opinion tough.

8b/8b+

ground up flash

not sure if actually 8b+, could be 8b since it's mostly tricky..One of the best in Bavona for me, so fun!!

2nd Ascent after Roland Hemetzberger. shares the crux of 'The Void' but climbs a harder start into it. Since you have such an amazing knee bar in the middle it doesn't make it much harder though, in my opinion.

Really struggled with the crux move at the top at first but with good skin it went down first try today. Really hard to grade since it's mostly about this one single move, could be 9a could be easier for someone who loves pockets I don't know. 2nd Ascent after Roli I think..

Wow so psyched to add this kingline! You basically do the hardest part of the original force tranquill and then instead of matching the crimp and going out right you do another big move straight up to a pocket from there you do a rather scary top out. It’s definitely harder than the original line but I like the style a lot so personally I would say it‘s not enough to push it up a full grade. It‘s the logical exit and climbs very well so I would love to see some repititions and hear their opinion 😉 Video online! https://youtu.be/Dr82TsVOEXk

Sick highball!

8a/8a+