Siebe Vanhee completes hard Rope-Solos on Naranjo de Bulnes and in Verdon Gorge

Siebe Vanhee has been adding new dimensions lately to his own climbing, branching out and experimenting with hard rope-solo ascents. In August the 31-year-old Belgian travelled to Spain's Picos de Europa massif where, after making an impressive one-day free ascent of the 8b+/8c multipitch Rayu on Pena Santa (2596m) together with Seb Berthe (who even flashed the route!), Vanhee was "hungry for more" and consequently set his sights on El Pilar del Cantábrico. This 500m 8a+ on Naranjo de Bulnes was freed by Josune Bereziartu and Iker Pou in 2002 and, venturing on his own, Vanhee managed to free climb all the pitches in a 12 hour single push.

This ascent paved the way for two hard rope-solo Vanhee carried out in the Verdon Gorge last week: the overhanging Une Jolie Fleur dans un Peaux de Vache (8b, 300m) and the Patrick Edlinger technical vertical test Take it or Leave it (8a, 110m).

Vanhee made excellent progress on both climbs, onsighting the crux 8b pitch of Une Jolie Fleur and taking just one fall on the subsequent 8a pitch due to a technical error, while on Take it he needed two goes to send the 7c and 8a pitches.

After his ascents, documented by Jean-Elie, he explained "Rope-solo climbing is something exciting and new for me. I can’t climb as freely yet as if I would with a climbing partner, but the mental and technical part of rope-soloing gives it such an interesting dimension. Also, the fact of being alone on the wall is very new to me. I love the social part of climbing, but the challenge of dealing with everything on your own is so rewarding. Especially the mental challenge, you have to do it yourself, you have to stick with it and stay focused at all times."

Links: FB Siebe Vanhee, www.siebevanhee.be, La Sportiva, Wild Country, The North Face