Action Directe 9a climbed by Gabriele Moroni, too

He's done it! Gabriele Moroni has climbed Action Directe, the route which perhaps more than any other represents the dream and the non-plus-ultra of sport climbing. The 23 year old from Novara in Northern Italy managed to send this fierce sequence of monodoigts and two-finger pockets in Germany's Frankenjura on 17 April after having courted it (if this is the right definition) since 2008, after that incredible tour-du-force which saw him climb three 8c+ in two weeks, SS 26 at Gressoney, Zauberfee at Arco and Shangri-la in the Frankenjura.

In the meantime Moroni has continued to climb hard (worth noting are his fast repeats of the boulder problems Dreamtime at Cresciano and Mandala sit-start at Bishop, as well as numerous 8c+ routes and the first repeat of Sankukai 9a at the French crag Entraygues), while in the Bouldering World Cup 2009 he took home an excellent bronze.

From Germany Moroni now takes home the 12 ascent of this cult Wolfgang Güllich route, adding his name to a list which includes some of the strongest and most talented sport climbers of all times. In doing so he also confirms that "Action" remains not only one of the most coveted, but also one of the most "international" top level routes, with only a dozen ascents in its nigh twenty year history from an impressive nine different countries.

As for many others, for Moroni this climb represents a dream come true. He recently checked-in and stated: "I'm only now beginning to realise what I've done. I was in a sort of trance yesterday, which started from when I stuck the final mono (from where I'd fallen off a number of times) until I woke up this morning... it's an incredible sensation, it's hard to understand how much this weighed down on me and how liberated and serene I now feel inside..."