Nathan Michel reports on his Instagram„Longue promesse“ 8C in Le Pertuis, his first 8C boulder and his first ascent of a boulder of this grade. Nathan got the slightly easier standing start „Promesse“ (8B +), and then a „low start“ belongs to the start of „Promesse“.

The evaluation of the boulder should not have been made out of thin air, after all, six 8B + boulders have been climbing since 2013. We’re worried about what potential repeaters will say.

„The story of “Promesse” began in 2015 when I was seeking new rocks to climb (as I always am). After an afternoon spent roaming the forest I stumbled upon this piece of rock. I spent a few sessions with my friend Yann Leray trying to find a way on top of this boulder, but at the time I wasn’t strong enough to climb it. I shelved this project, but made the promise (“promesse”) to come back stronger to make the first ascent…

This summer, I decided to seriously get back into training and to tackle a few dream goals, the first of which was obviously “Promesse”. After six sessions together with Sacha Ribeyron and Antoine Girard, we finally figured out a beta that felt possible for the easier high start (8B+). Though, a lower start seemed possible, so I started working on it and quickly managed to link it to the start of “promesse”. The section adds a short 7C boulder and makes the rest of the climb considerably harder. After that, it took me three more session and perfect conditions to finally free the full line. „

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGnVUNBDss4/