Psychogramm, the new 8b+ trad climb at Bürser Platte by Alex Luger

We promised it right after it had been climbed last February, now we've finally got more details about Psychogramm, the line freed by Alex Luger at Bürser Platte in Austria. The route in question is located immediately to the left of Beat Kammerlander's famous Prinzip Hoffnung (repeated by Luger in 2010) and had originally been climbed as an aid route by Wolfgang Muxel sometime during the '90's and graded A3. Luger first laid hands on the thin crack line and slab 4 years ago but at the time the Austrian only managed to climb the crux sequence 1 time out of 10 and so he decided to give it a miss for a while. Last winter he returned and, after having climbed it clean on toprope on five separate occasions, he chose to tie in to the live end of the rope. The crux section is located up high, just before reaching the belay and 5 metres above the last piece of pro, a tiny micro nut Luger placed during the free ascent and which, fortunately, stopped a number of falls. "Otherwise" Luger told Planetmountain "had that nut not held, things would have got serious."

PSYCHOGRAMM by Alex Luger

A project that, in the beginning, wasn't a project because it seemed unrealistic that it could be climbed clean. Partly because of the insecure boulder crux that I managed to stick only every tenth time and partly because of the dodgy pro.

But ultimately this is exactly what drew me to it. Would I be able to have greater control of the moves? And would the pro suffice for a reasonable lead attempt?

I can't control everything, I've checked out all the moves, learnt the sequences and the pro, hmm, it's as it is, dictated by what the rock provides.

The urge to climb is enormous. I'm ready. Start. Tension, concentration, breathing, place the pro, control, continue on up, and fall, tumble into the rope, the micronut holds.

After three further attempts I manage to climb Psychogramm clean. A further personal highlight.