Niccolò Ceria flashes 8B at Fontainebleau

8B flash. Not an everyday occurrence, on the contrary, it’s an outstanding performance, especially if you bear in mind the fact that the hardest problems so far are 8C+. Italian boulderer Niccolò Ceria is currently on a lone trip to Fontainebleau in France where he flashed Ubik assis, the problem put up by Julien Nadiras at the Les Mammouths sector. The boulder is comprised of a tricky sequence of underclimbs, pinches and body tension and Ceria knew the moves virtually, having seen videos of the climb beforehand. As to Fontainebleau, this is Ceria’s 8th visit to the magic forest on the outskirts of Paris and while he repeated Hip hop assis 8B the othe r day, a few years ago he also repeated Gourmandise 8B.

UBIK ASSIS FLASH by Niccolò Ceria

I ‘d been to the problem the day before, during an afternoon of uncertain weather with a bit of rain, sun and hail. Crazy. I spent about an hour just looking at it and then I started to think that maybe it was possible to climb it quickly. I was almost utterly convinced that it would be dry the following day, seeing that it’s located at the top of the hill and gets the breeze and sun. And as it happens yesterday it was in very good condition. I spent another half an hour studying it; I knew all the various sequences off by heart and I had to choose the one that best suited my height and style.
With a little luck I chose the one that was ideal for me and once I’d sent the hard section, I knew I couldn’t fall, both to send the problem and also to avoid the nasty fall.

I’ve flashed some other hard stuff in the past, such as Entwash at Brione years ago; although easier, I found that one more demanding since I had to improvise the moves. Just like that time, the “after effect” didn’t last long, only about a minute of satisfaction. Perhaps because it all went down so quickly, that I managed to save precious time, skin and energy and optimize the ascent.