In the last week Katharina Saurwein and Jorg Verhoeven could repeat ‚Tainted Love‘ (8b/5. 13d trad) in Squamish in British Colombia Canadian climbing crag one of the hardest multi pitch climbing Trad routes in the world. It was the first Trad route in this difficulty for Katharina. Only in May of this year the route first ascented by Hazel Findlay. Show in the following video:

Katharina bei www.8a.nu: „I knew I wanted to try ‘Tainted love’ before coming here as this stemming corner with an almost closed crack in the corner and blank sidewalls, first ascended by Hazel Findlay looked stunning. It’s about fifteen to twenty meters high and is protected by small offset wires and one cam. At first both Jorg (Verhoeven, who also did it) and I had a hard time getting off the ground, we didn’t know how to move, how to position our body. From session to we got a better feeling for the open dihedral and at one point we both had our own beta worked out, which was actually quite different, due to our height difference. 

On our fourth session our goal was to get used to placing the gear, but as I started climbing it felt great, so I just kept on going. I was so focused on my climbing that I wasn’t really scared, and as I slowly made it higher and higher I found myself up top before realizing what had happened.“

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: (c) Jon Glassberg