Jorg Verhoeven powers up Papichulo (9a+) at Oliana

38-year-old Dutch climber Jorg Verhoeven is undoubtedly one of the most versatile climbers of his generation. After winning the Lead World Cup 2008, he diversified outdoors and his hard ascents span the entire spectrum, from intense 8C boulders to repeats of huge big walls such as The Nose and Dihedral Wall on El Capitan in Yosemite

A few years ago he announced that he would like to push the envelope a little further and climb 9b, and as a stepping stone en route to reaching this aim, he has now climbed his first 9a+, Papichulo at Oliana. The 45 meter, 60+ move route was bolted and freed by Chris Sharma in 2008 on the famous Contrafort de Rumbau and has seen a fair few repeats over the years, all confirming the grade and beauty.

After his repeat, Verhoeven explained "In my long-term goal of climbing Fight or Flight (9b), I have always used Papichulo and its variations as a training route to train finger strength and power endurance, but also as a personal fitness-check. I must have been on the route around 30-50 times.

This year in April I decided to make Papichulo my primary project, as I felt the route deserved more than to be my 'training route', and I was motivated by others who were also projecting the route such as Hugo Parmentier, Josh Ibbertson, Dylan Chuat.

At the end of April the conditions were ideal and I knew that my fitness should be good enough to climb the route. Surprisingly I could climb all of the hard part with relative ease, but I kept failing higher up, since I lack the lack endurance and belief in myself, putting too much pressure on sending.

After a week of rain and training, I gave the route a go in less good conditions and feeling tired. I struggled everywhere and was about to give up, but decided to keep going and started feeling better and better towards the top. I still don't really understand how on this day I could send the route, and not on the days before, but that seems to be one of the nice mysteries of rock climbing. Expectation is treacherous."

Verhoeven specified that he had climbed with a kneepad and without pre-clipping. When asked for details, he told planetmountain "The start of this route has some of the hardest moves, and often up to 4 draws are pre-clipped when doing a redpoint try. The arguments are based on safety and the fact that it was also done on the first ascent. My personal principles are that I do not want to pre-clip any draws."

Links: IG Jorg Verhoeven, FB Jorg Verhoeven, La Sportiva, Petzl