Martina Demmel klettert kann mit „QL“ an der Afrikawand in Kochel eine weitere 8c-Route in diesem Jahr klettern. „Erwartungsgemäß“ benötigt sie nur 3 Sessions (9 Versuche) für den erfolgreichen Durchstieg.

Es war für Martina die neunte 8c Route in diesem Jahr und auch in ihrer bisherigen Karriere. Das ist an sich schon eine große Leistung, wenn man aber bedenkt, daß Martina erst vor drei Jahren mit Klettern begonnen hat, ist das umso bemerkenswerter. Erst im April diesen Jahres konnte sie  mit „Odd Fellows“ ihre erste 8c-Route klettern.

Enjoying these homecragging days to its fullest atm with a special send of „QL“ [8c] last Thursday at Afrikawand! Such a ‚QL‘ basically natural 25 moves resistence diamond!

A slightly overhanging kinda corner slab line straight up through perfectly structured grey limestone featured with mostly crimps and tiny pockets and offering a thousand possible solutions to make this puzzle work out of a sea of holds. Therefore, it’s super technical, all about bodypositions and saving energy in the lower part to be as fresh as possible for the crux (pic below)

and the runout afterwards!
Maybe never enjoyed trying a route pretty close to my limit that muc even though, the mindgame almost made me crazy during the 3rd session, so performing under pressure while not loosing the flow was the key! Messed up the first try of the day because I simply was too nervous which didn’t happened for months now but definitely prooved that the psyche is fully back. I knew that it’s the last possible chance for a while now by having perfect conditions (dry rock, ideal temperatures) which is the hardest thing to get for this one and being well rested on top. #climberproblems.

So last Thursday, everything came together perfectly with 6 degrees and some sun rays shining through the trees which brought the conditions and friction to another level! After passing the crux the first time, I started to breathe so heavily that my nose almost got frozen of this damn cold air but then, the smile was already on my face while dancing up the last couple of meters to the chains. What a relief and moment of pure happiness by appreciating everything my new Kochel fav taught me!

In the end, it took 3 sessions(9 tries) but during the 2nd session, I already made a big progress by having an one hang 3 times the Sunday before!
Now the psyche is high to give the long linkup finishing in this beauty a try but for now, it looks like the landscape is rather turning into a winterwonderland!
Biggest thanks are going out to @kautzisabelle once again for all the cheering, every single supportive belay and for sure, for the chilled vibes during these rather cold days

Foto: (c) Malik Schirawski