Jakob Schubert has made the first ascent of Project Big in Flatanger.
Bolted by Adam Ondra around the same time he bolted Silence 9c - known at the time as 'Project Hard' - the route is rumoured to be somewhere in the region of 9b+/9c.
Having tried the route with Adam late last year, Jakob returned this Autumn and began livestreaming his redpoint attempts, with yesterday being his sixth attempt.
It looked unlikely that Jakob was going to be able to get on Project Big yesterday, with Flatanger having seen twenty hours of continuous rainfall. However, the rain dried up just in time, and Jakob was able to make his attempt.
He climbed through the crux confidently, seemingly with energy to spare, only for one of the route's eighty-five holds to break as he was pulling on it. Fortunately, as it broke, it lodged within the rock just long enough for Jakob to readjust. He persevered, and twenty minutes after Jakob left the ground, he had made the route's first ascent.
'I actually did it live!' Jakob said, 'the biggest mental battle I've ever had in my career!'
'So nervous! Mentally so crazy. I didn't feel so good going into the route, but then I was so much better at the end of the first boulder. After shaking out my arm on the sloper just before the crux, I was incredibly nervous. I don't think I've ever been so scared climbing'.
Jakob's success on Project Big comes just a month after he became the first male athlete to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, having won both the men's combined Gold medal as well as the men's lead at the IFSC World Championships in Bern.
Jakob has said that he will not comment on the grade just yet.
You can watch the video of the ascent below.
Comments
Next up DNA I guess.
That’s awesome. After that really close attempt a few days ago, and then some slightly worse goes, he must have thought that might be it for this year.
Yes, hopefully he’ll get back on DNA. Though he may start to focus on the Olympics.
No, that's incorrect. He climbed Silence in 2017.
According to Planet Mountain, he bolted it in 2013 [1]. Adam himself even says he "kind of" did all the moves back in 2013 [2].[1] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/jakob-schubert-frees-project-big-king-line-flatanger.html
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbMWyAoHMks&t=315s
That was actually a very epic watch with 2 ropes, wet holds, snapped holds and numerous missed clips / run outs. The route then seems to just end at some nominal location in the middle of nowhere. Doubt it will ever see many repeats but does look an amazing climb.
I presume that it ends where the climbing becomes "easy", meaning really easy for those who climb 9b and above.
But I'd really like to see a decent photo topo of Flathanger that shows where all these mega-routes go - when they show the whole cave you just can't tell if it finishes only half-way up or near the top or wherever.