Brittany Goris has done the FFA of ‚East Coast Fist Bump‚ 5.14a/8b+ trad in the crag „The Waterfall“ in Arizona USA.

During the last Brittany Goris has climbed ten trad routes grade 8a and harder, including the first female ascent of „Stingray“ 8b, (Video). Interestingly enough, Brittany has only focused on trad climbing for the past two years. The now 28-year-old began climbing around 20 years ago as a competitive climber and was repeatedly thrown back from serious injuries and burnout.

„I’ve been working on this project for a few weeks, and managed to put it down a few days ago. Fist Bump appealed to me as a project for a few reasons, one of which was the allure of one of my wildest dreams: to climb a 5.14 on traditional gear. Only a few women in the world have ever done it, and for as long as I had started pushing myself as a trad climber I fantasized of having my name on that list. I had publicly admitted as much on my Enormocast interview over a year ago, preaching about the romantic concept of “dreaming the impossible dream” and how doing that was mine.

One of my favorite mantras from Todd Skinner perpetually echoed in my head when I thought about my dream to climb a trad 5.14 route, because that number had been a dream to him too. “Everything you ever wanted to do is still possible. It’s only you who says it can’t be done. If there is something you want to do in life you’d better get on it; time waits for no one.”
In the end he was right; it was only ever me that said it couldn’t be done.“

Read the full story in my blog  BrittanyGoris.com – The Impossible Dream!

Photo: (c) Erik Anderson