Pirmin Bertle frees two 9a's at Charmey

At the end of March Pirmin Bertle added two new routes , Chromosome X and Chromosome Y to the crag Charmey in Switzerland. While the grade is undoubtedly high - 9a in both cases - what renders this performance interesting is the fact that Bertle freed both in just over an hour. More precisely, from 19 to 20:15 on 30 March 2012.

In the past Bertle had already managed to send numerous hard climbs in a single day - for example the 8c's Le Cadre and La chronique at Ceuse and the 8c+ Inshallah and Gora Guta Gutarak at Kalymnos - but freeing two new 9a's, in rapid succession, is something new and impressive for Bertle, too. Talking about things new: the names of the routes probably have to do with the fact that a fortnight ago the 26-year-old German became a father.

Some interesting climbing info Charmey in Canton Fribourg: Chromosome X now lacks a direct start which could be somewhere in the region of 9b, while to date Bertle has invested circa 200 attempts in repeating the nearby climb Le donjon de Nahelbeuk. Officially this route is graded 8c+ but in may well be closer to 9a... which just goes to show that the routes at this crag, and in Switzerland in general, tend to be pretty stiff.