Lena Herrmann climbs Frankenjura's Klondike Cat 8c

It may come as a surprise, but in Germany's Frankenjura - one of the cradles of sports climbing where Kurt Albert invented the universally recognised 'rotpunkt' style back in 1975 - very few women have managed to climb 8c / 11-. Local climber Sarah Seeger sent Steinbock and Odd Fellows in 2009 and 2010 respectively, Sweden's Matilda Söderlund made a fast repeat of Odd Fellows in 2012 and of course last year Frenchwoman Melissa Le Nevé nabbed the first female ascent of the world's first 8c, Wallstreet just a few months before Austria's Johanna Ernst made the second female ascent, but apart from these notable exceptions most strong female climbers tend to steer clear of the powerful pocket pulling required to clip the anchors of the Frankenjura testpieces.

German climber Lena Herrmann has now slightly readressed the balance by repeating Klondike Cat (11-) at the Bärenschluchtwänden. The 21-year-old tried the line for the first time last year but after three days of promising progress cold weather set in and she was forced to abandon the project. Careful winter training and climbing abroad resulted in increased power and motivation, and after investing a further 8 days she managed to repoint her hardest route to date.