With the first ascent “La Nave de los Locos” (9a) on the Spanish island of Mallorca, Iker Pou, the Spanish climbing legend, look back on twenty years of climbing in the ninth difficulty french grade. For his first 9a, he had chosen the „Action Directe“ (9a) route by Wolfgang Güllich in Northern Franconian Jura, Germany in 2000. Probably the first route in this grade in the world and certainly not the easiest route in this grade. It was the second repetition of the legendary route after Alexander Adler had been successful five years earlier. Meanwhile, the route still has only 25 ascents since 1991.
Iker Pou was able to climb his first 8c in 1996 and climb his first 8c + in 1998.
In the past twenty years, „Bain de Sang“ (9a) in Saint Loup in Switzerland in 2003, „Demencia Senil“ (9a +) in 2010 and „Nit de Bruixes“ (9a +) in 2012 in Margalef (Spain). This was followed by the previously unrepeated routes „Big Men“ (9a+) in Mallorca in 2015 and „Artaburu“ (9a +) in 2018. The last route is situated also in Margalef and, according to Iker, it is his most difficult first ascent so far, which is still due to its repetition waiting and maybe even harder than 9a +
Iker is and was a very successful expedition climber and was able to visit many of the most famous routes and mountains in the world with his older brother Eneko. The duo traveled from Patagonia to Peru, from Siberia to Baffin Island, from Mont Blanc to Naranjo de Bulnes and Tre Cime di Lavaredo, from El Capitan in Yosemite to the Trango Towers in the Karakoram. For example, they were also on the island of São Tomé and Príncipe to climb the „Pico Cão Grande“ there.
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