Mina Markovič climbs two 9a's at Ospo in Slovenia

After becoming the first Slovenian woman to climb 9a with her ascent of Fabela Pa La Enmienda at Santa Linya in Spain in 2015, Mina Markovič recently doubled and even tripled her takings at the hugely overhanging Ospo cave. In mid-July the three-times Lead World Cup winner checked in with a fast ascent of Halupca 1979, and last week she repeated one of the most aesthetic lines in the cave, Water World.

Considered one of Slovenia’s classic high-end sport climbs, Halupca 1979 was freed in 2008 by an inspired Matej Sova. Having climbed most other routes in the cave, Markovič started trying the route primarily as training but soon realised that she already possessed the necessary power and endurance. The 32-year-old required less the 15 attempts spread out over 10 days to link all the moves.

Water World tested Markovič considerably more. She started trying the Klemen Bečan 2014 testpiece a few weeks after Halupca but "honestly, it really shut me down and I didn’t understand anything on my first go" the 32-year-old told planetmountain.com. "I knew the route is famous for its very specific moves though so I wasn’t too worried, and when I returned a few weeks later I began to understand the sequences. But I realised I’d need brute force. The climbing in the cave is really, really physical." Markovič’s progress was made all the more difficult by the sweltering summer heat, yet despite far from ideal conditions she redpointed the route last Thursday at 6pm. Temperatures had finally sunk, albeit only to 30°C!

While on the topic of hard female redpoints: in June both Margo Hayes and Paige Claassen scored back-to-back ascents of Kryptonite, established by Tommy Caldwell in 1999 at The Fortress of Solitude and often referred to as the first 9a in the USA. Both sent the climb after few days of projecting and the speed with which all three climbers are repeating routes of this difficulty signals that there is potentially much, much more in store.