Siara Fabbri sends New Base Line (8B+) at Magic Wood
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Simone Tentori
Siara Fabbri has made a remarkable repeat of New Base Line, the classic Bernd Zangerl 8B+ at Magic Wood in Switzerland. The American antimatter researcher at CERN in Geneva has been climbing for a mere 8 years and after devoting much of her time to her PhD, she only started bouldering more seriously outdoors this year. Her previous best was Permanent Midnight 8A+ at Fionnay in September, and it goes without saying that New Base Line marks a significant step forward in her climbing.
Writing to planetmountain.com, Siara explained "I watched my friend Santiago Alba trying this problem during my first trip to Magic last year in 2021. I thought it looked super cool but was beyond me. I felt strong at the start of this year with some PBs on the hangboard, and after encouragement from friends I set my sights on it. It was the obvious choice as a project given it is such a classic, beautiful hard line without any long moves.
I first started it in April this year and just focused on getting the moves down. The hardest single move was initially the first move - I don’t do the typical beta with a heel but instead use my toe. Once I had this dialed the real hardest move was the kick move. This move and cross move after the sidepull definitely challenged me the most, but eventually I found the best micro-beta to make them consistent. In the beginning I struggled a few sessions with conditions and skin – I would split a lot on the sharp crimp and stop my session short, and once it got hot and humid I wasn’t so psyched to try and spent time climbing elsewhere."
This fall I came back with better knowledge on having good skin due to a successful antihydrol routine and was happy to do essentially the "stand"’ start of the boulder first go of the day after months away from it.
Also this day was cold, it was snowing at the road, and I noticed what a difference the conditions made! I started strong, but didn’t send for some sessions and eventually felt like I regressed a bit. I re-discovered some correct beta after switching to bad beta without realizing, and decided to take a little break from it to get re-motivated and do some power endurance training and climbing in Brione. I came back feeling strong again, and I fell going to the gaston, at a point where I thought I had done it, and although that was frustrating I knew next session I could do it. I wasn’t able to beat a big snow, but still made it back after the snow and found the boulder primarily dry but the top. Pads, lights, and I sent!
For me it was really important to stay positive with it and realize if I needed to climb other things or what I needed to change (staying fueled on the day, better sleep, different beta, where I felt weak). Simone Tentori was a huge support with this and always giving good advice and support. I tried to always come away from each session focused on what I learned and keep note of the details, and enjoy myself!"
