Hannes Huch suggested to Swede Said Belhaj that he did not climb the route „Action Directe“ (9a). (We reported). The Swiss climbing magazine Lacrux spoke with Said in a interview. Ultimately, we find that he cannot provide any real evidence that he has climbed the route. The fact that he can no longer find his belayer, who contacted him via Instagram is especially serious. So there are no witnesses for the ascent: „So after I was back in Spain after the break in the Frankenjra, I could not find anyone to climb with me and so I contacted the climber on Instagram. His name was Michael (or Mike). He was German and as I understand he was from the region. It was he who secured me during the red dot ascent. Unfortunately his user profile and the conversation on Instagram disappeared when I searched six months later and wanted to contact him. That may sound strange, but what can I do? „

Either way, there were and again, as in this case, again and again, doubts about the „proper orderly“ commission. In the meantime, it should be the custom that all inspections should be documented in the upper difficulty limit and with a reasonably meaningful video. If this is not the case, the inspection is „unfortunately“ not recognized. In sports climbing or bouldering in particular, there should hardly be such bad conditions that no awards are possible.

It’s a shame for Said if he ultimately climbs the route in accordance with the rules, he actually has what it takes, which he was able to prove with a visit to “Papichulo” (9a) in 2016. At that time there was also a video of the ascent.

https://vimeo.com/188541253