Nalle Hukkataival, the force from Finland, has finally made the first ascent of the Wagon-project in Valle Bavona, Switzerland, made famous by Chris Sharma in the Dosage 4 movie a few years ago.
Many have tried it and some have said they have been close. Close doesn't quite cut it though...
This is how Nalle describes Off the wagon on his blog:
Off The Wagon, as I named it, is one of the purest boulders I've ever climbed! There are only a few features on the wall and they are far apart. I used the same beta that Chris Sharma was trying in the Dosage film; a hard deadpoint to a crazy campus rose-move. If not also the first move, the second move is something that I've never seen anywhere else in the world!
It's very unique! Basically the boulder distills down to a really hard 2-move sequence followed by an easier but really nice outro.
Of course, such a short and special problem is problematic to give a grade, but few are better fit to do that than Nalle, who decided to propose 8C.
There are several strong boulderers in the region, so it's not at all unlikely it will see a repeat sooner rather than later.
Incidentally, this happened to the problem he put up the other they, Momentum, ~8C, in the same valley.
Nalle had given Carlo Traversi a description on how to find it, so he decided to go there to check it out together with Jan "Rocklands crusher" Hojer, and:
Jan, after taking a few burns to warm-up, quickly stuck the crux (not from the start) and went to the top after a few goes. After a bit of rest and a few more falls from the bottom, he completed the 2nd Ascent.
I don't know what Jan thinks about the difficulty, but regardless whether it's 8C or not, that's very impressive to say the least.
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