Christian Bindhammer repeats "The Big Mother"

In January 2001 Christian Bindhammer makes the third ascent of "The Big Mother" (8c+) at Erto and climbs "Coxa Distorta" 8b+ FBtr in the Frankenjura

PlanetMountain.com

January 2001

Traduci in

The German Christian Bindhammer got off to a good start in 2001 by repeating "The Big Mother" 8c+ at Erto, Italy in early January. First climbed by Luca Zardini last summer, this route was repeated by Cristian Brenna in Deccmber 2000.

Back at home in Germany he also linked the Frankenjura traverse "Coxa Distorta". Originally graded 8b FBtr., this 14m traverse remained unrepeated after a hold broke off. Christian now believes it to be 8b+ FBtr., making this the hardest traverse in Germany. Not bad for January!

Christian told us the following:

"At New Year I spent three days in Erto. On 1 January I was shocked to find that the crag receives the sun for only 3 1/2 hours… So I checked out "The Big Mother" again (I had already tried the route for 2 days in summer, despite the heat) and gave it a go, but fell.

On the next day I went snowboarding in Cortina and in the evening it began to snow heavily. I didn't really reckon with being able to climb the next day, but the weather was surprisingly good and the seepage line left of "Mocho" dried quickly. I tried the route once more and, after having failed again, managed to redpoint it.

The conditions were definitely very good that day, but personally I wouldn't rate the route as one of the hardest of the ten 8c+ I've climbed. I reckon "L'Avaro" at Tetto Sarre in the Italian Val Di Aosta to be harder and therefore believe it to be the hardest route in Italy at the moment, especially since the moves get harder the higher you climb. Having said that though, I climbed "L'Avaro" over 1 1/2 years ago and the conditions weren't ideal at the time. That's why it's really difficult to draw comparisons.

The hard bit about "The Big Mother" is linking the first 15m, while the crux section in "Mocho" can be climbed relatively securely if you are on form. So for me the route doesn't get any harder through the upper section. Disregarding its difficulty, "The Big Mother" is THE LINE at Erto, a totally classic route!"

Christian Bindhammer climbing "The Big Mother" (8c+), Erto. (Arch. C. Bindhammer)