1. Why Zahir? Why did you choose this particular project?
2. You did the project in Ecopoint style. Tell us more about this approach.
3. What were the biggest challenges and how did you solve them?
4. What was your strategic approach to projecting such a wall?
5. Which shoes did you choose for Zahir and why?
6. What else did you have with you while climbing? How did you manage to stay hydrated in the heat?
7. How was the team spirit between you and Katherine?
8. Would you like to come back to the project and try again?
9. Your 3 highlights of the trip?
Frage 1:
Read the whole interview:
Why Zahir? Why did you choose this particular project?
"Zahir had been on Kathy’s mind for a while. I had heard of it but I didn’t know much about it. But Kathy and I had tried Tarragó (another 8b+ max multi-pitch) together last summer and we both really liked climbing together. So when she asked me if I wanted to try Zahir with her I didn’t hesitate. I was surely impressed by the greatness of the challenge but I saw it as a great opportunity to learn."
Frage 2:
You did the project in Ecopoint style. Tell us more about this approach.
"Ecopoint Climbing is a movement that was born from the belief that we can do what we love without destroying what we love. Climbing brings us outdoors and makes us visit amazing environments. We want to find ways to climb with as little impact as possible on these environments. We put the love and respect we have for the outdoors at the service of adapting our lifestyles to live in a more sustainable way. As climbers, the biggest share of our carbon footprint comes from transportation. So with Ecopoint Climbing we commit to go to the crag in a sustainable way: by foot, bike, public transport or sometimes hitchhiking. We include the way we get to the climb in the definition of performance. Redpoint becomes Ecopoint, meaning we only consider we sent a route or a boulder when we approached it by fair means each time we tried it."
Frage 3:
What were the challenges and how did you solve them?
"The biggest challenge is the first step: believing that it is actually possible to climb at our best level Ecopoint style. I have been into Ecopoint Climbing since 2 years now so I knew it could work but Kathy had never done it before our test ride. I put all my enthusiasm and motivation at use to encourage Kathy to give it a try. I followed the ‘everything is possible, we just need a plan’ rule and we started planning.
Ecopoint style has an impact on many aspects of a climbing trip: accommodation, food, gear, fitness, rest, flexibility, independence… A cozy and warm van becomes a little tent, on the fly meals with all the food we are used to, become we eat what we can carry, every quickdraw we decide to bring suddenly has its weight, full rest days become very rare as we often use them to go food shopping by bike, we depend on the territory where we live in a very obvious way (is there water where we sleep? If it rains for 3 days in a row we can’t escape to that other climbing area that is 200km away…). We solved all these challenges with my experience and our optimism. Actually there is so much beauty in changing all these aspects of the trip. For example: we really experience the idea of less is more and every piece of equipment we bring becomes special, we get to know the places we go to in a deeper level as we have to know exactly where there is water and what is the local food, tough climbs with heavily loaded bikes become good stories… It is a choice to see the beauty of change and it is such an excitement journey."
Frage 4:
What was your strategic approach to projecting such a wall?
"The strategy can be divided in different steps:
1. Getting there (with Ecopoint climbing your mission starts as soon as you leave your front door)
2. Discovering the place and minimising the risks
3. Discovering all the pitches and identifying the crux ones
4. Figuring out the crux pitches and getting confortable on the wall
5. Trying to send
The Wendenstöcke is known for the engagement of the bolting: on the easier pitches, you sometimes have more than 8m between the bolts. So minimising the risks was key. For example: the first pitch of Zahir is a 35m long 6c with only 4 bolts and no possibility to add gear. We climbed it once on our first day and then we installed a static rope to be able to jummar up (use the rope to go up the wall) instead of risking our lives in the 6c every time we wanted to try the other pitches. We also installed static ropes in the next pitches (8a, 8b+ and 7c). This was more about saving time, energy and skin than about minimising risks. For example: when we started focusing on the crux pitches, we spent 2 days only trying the 8b+ and the top of the 8a. To do so, it was very useful to use the static ropes to get the beginning of the 8b+ rather than having to climb there."
Frage 5:
Which shoes did you choose for climbing Zahir and why?
"I climbed with the new Boostic R because I needed hard shoes to stand on those tiny tiny footholds. Zahir is a vertical route, sometimes slightly overhanging, so you better have a good footwork if you want to be able to hold its heinous crimps. These shoes allowed me to get this special feeling in climbing where I am 100% confident on my feet. It’s like everything becomes a foothold. I wear 38 for normal shoes and I chose to climb with the Boostic R in size 38 (for sportsclimbing I would use a smaller size) which was good to handle the feet pain during the long days on the wall."
What else did you have with you while climbing? How did you manage to stay hydrated in the heat?
"Hiking sticks were mandatory to preserve our knees during the long approach with heavy backpacks (we had to hike 730m of elevation gain every time we wanted to try the route). Then, we always made sure we had enough food on the wall. Having enough fuel is key for these kind of missions, especially in Ecopoint Style. Everything takes so much energy: getting there by bike, carrying our stuff, staying warm, handling the risk and the fear… Here’s a golden rule: don’t save weight on food. On the wall, we made sure we always had a real lunch (bread and cheese or pasta or rice) and enough snacks (bars, chocolate, cookies…). We decided to bring a camelbag which allowed us to always have water easily accessible."
Frage 8:
How would you describe the team spirit between you and Katherine?
"In my opinion, the team spirit was the most important thing of this trip. Kathy and I were cycling, hiking, climbing, eating and sleeping in a tent together every day for 19 days in a row. We never had a fight, we never felt annoyed by the other one. I think that’s already quite amazing. Then the way we supported each other on the wall was beautiful. I gave everything for the team since day one: meaning that I would never hesitate to walk (or climb) the extra mile to make us progress. That was useful especially in the first days when we had to discover the pitches and climb with no draws on the bolts and no chalk on the holds. It makes the climbing way harder and scarier when you don’t know where to go nor which holds to grab. I sometimes had to try a section 10 times before I could clip the bolt and actually figure out where the holds were. Kathy had a different attitude in the beginning, it seemed like she was climbing smarter and saving skin and energy. I was full on because I expected that place to be tough and I was ready to use all my fighting spirit. It gave me wings but also made me very tired and destroyed my skin pretty quickly. The team spirit kept me going because Kathy was always very encouraging and supportive. It made me want to try even harder. Later in the trip, my energy started to decrease but again, I was able to continue to progress and to keep pushing my limits because I followed Kathy’s optimism. It was also impressive to see how Kathy’s energy was increasing. It made me think about my strategy, maybe I gave too much at the beginning.
On day 15 Kathy sent the route. It was a huge fight. It was amazing to witness it and to climb all the way to the top with her. I felt I was with her 100%. We started at 4:00 am and finished at 10:00pm. After she sent, I felt completely empty. All my energy and motivation were suddenly gone. The dynamics of our team changed as we were not sharing the same goal anymore. I felt alone. But actually I wasn’t. Kathy was still there and I was truly proud and happy for her, independently of how I felt about myself. Being able to really be happy for my friend when she had sent and I hadn’t was my priority because that’s when it counts. Can you put your ego aside and be truly happy for your friend who gave everything? My answer was yes because of the team. I was proud of both of us, even if a part of me wished I had also sent. I decided to finally take several rest days in a row and try again. Kathy never made me feel like she wanted to go home, even though she was also exhausted. But my level of fatigue was too deep and the skin on my fingertip too fragile. I should have taken double rest days earlier but I decided to follow Kathy’s rhythm and experience. I still put up a big fight but it wasn’t enough to send. I found myself hanging in the rope thinking ‘I wanna go home, I wanna go cycling, I wanna do something else’. And so I did."
Would you like to come back to the project and try again?
"Yes. I want to send Zahir, I want to find the flow that it takes. I decided this 2 weeks after I came back. It is scary to write this goal down because now I know how hard it is. I’ve seen what it took to Kathy to send and I know she is way stronger and more experienced than me. But I still want to try again, I’m going to focus on training for it for the next 9 months. I’m excited to see what having this goal is going to do to me, even though I’m also afraid. I’m afraid of failing. But that’s ok, it’s part of the game and deep down I know that it is not about the send, it is about how having this goal is going to make me grow as a climber and person."
Your 3 highlights of the trip?
1) "The nights where we slept at a bivac in the middle of the approach. We had dinner at 5pm, started hiking around 6pm and then went to sleep at 9pm. I loved the simplicity of our tasks: go up, find a flat spot protected from the rockfall, inflate our sleeping mats and fall asleep watching the chamois and the stars."
2) "When I finally clipped the 4th bolt of the 8b+ on day 5. We had been stuck there for 2 days because it is the crux of the pitch and it is mandatory (meaning you can’t pull on the quickdraws to check it out). We both tried but couldn’t clip the bolt. It costed me tens of falls and tons of skin until I finally managed. When I held the draw in my hand and clipped it, I felt like Janja Garnbret topping out a boulder in the olympic final 😄"
3) "On day 19, we woke up at 4:00am. I climbed the 6c, tried the 8a twice and then I gave up the send. But I still had to climb the 8b+ and the 7c to take back all our gear. We came back to the base camp around 3:30pm and packed everything. Kathy went down to Meiringen to go home but I felt like I wanted to say goodbye to the place so I went in the other direction and climbed the Susten Pass with my bike. I arrived to the top just before sunset. The lights where amazing and I could finally see the Wendenstöcke from another perspective (I had been willing to cycle this pass since we got here but I was saving all my energy for Zahir). Then I still had to cycle down, take 4 trains and I ended up arriving at Kathy’s place at 1:00am. A full day!"
Text written by Eline Le Menestrel
Photos taken by Julien Nadiras
First female ascent by Katherine Choong