Fred Rouhling is probably still most well known for his first ascent of Akira back in 1995. The proposed grade of 9b (5.15b) has long been a source of controversy as many people have questioned the veracity of his ascent.
Almost 15 years later Rouhling is still at the top of his game, opening new routes in the so-called 9th grade of climbing (5.14+ and harder). He recently completed a new route called Empreintes:
It’s a very gymnastic route with far between the holds and a powerful crux. It starts with an old soft 7c route. The new part starts with a great dyno in a roof, to catch a flat hold (7C/+ boulder grade) with a bad fall (scratch to a vertical part…). After three more moves we get to a very hard jump (8A/+ boulder grade) which is far and has a very uncomfortable start (also a strange hold to catch on the top). The finish is also hard with extreme body tension moves with so far between the holds ( I think this other part can be grade 8A boulder for 5 moves). This route is comparable in style to Hugh one of my old 9a but a level harder
Empreintes – 9a/b – Fred ROUHLING from VisitVenusProductions on Vimeo.
If you have some more time to kill, check out the website for Visit Venus Productions where they have a few different clips presented in a glorious high resolution format a la the Big Up website. My fingers hurt just watching Rouhling mono campusing…
