UKC

Buster Martin has made the first British ascent of the historic 9a Action Directe in the Frankenjura, Germany.

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In reply to UKC News:

HOW DID IT COMPARE TO HUBBLE!? 
 

Thoughts on first 9a in the world

Come onnnn it’s the juicy goss we were all looking for!?!?

In reply to Duncan Campbell:

I believe Natalie asked him shortly after he sent his answers across, so bear with - hopefully we’ll have an answer shortly.

Funnily enough we did broach the issue within this week’s Ticklist, which is coming out tomorrow, although most of what I say is both speculation and conjecture (which some may say is simply business as usual) 😅

In reply to UKC News:

Great news! Come on Buster don’t disappoint - don’t hold back! I want the juiciest answer going! 

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Yes Robbooooo conject and speculate 🤓 Rip the first 9a out of Franken and thrust it rightfully home into lovely Stoney for all eternity. The German climbing scene will wail and thrash and sup mournfully on a hefeweizen as nobody ever goes to Franken again and Ondra officially downgrades the whole country to 8c+ (soft). Ben will be given a knighthood but turn it down at the last moment whilst chucking chalk over the king and will dance off to France with Jerry who will have been secretly training for this moment so they can tick the Bombé Bleu (Project) in yoyo style and recrown Buoux as the most famous sport destination in France. Dave Mac will nod graciously and never leave Scotland again. 🙏

In reply to UKC News:

Call me pedantic but surely if "The line, first climbed in 1991...is generally regarded as the world's first 9a."

and

"Hubble 9a at Raven Tor (originally graded 8c+ in 1990, but later upgraded to 9a)"

then isn't Hubble clearly the world's first 9a?

In reply to MischaHY:

I'll have whatever you put in your coffee for breakfast. 

In reply to flaneur:

My mind narrates a constant flow of this sort of mad rubbish constantly and I vocalise/write perhaps 5-10% of it Neurodivergence is fun! 

In reply to UKC News:

I'm just surprised this is the first British ascent.

In reply to DubyaJamesDubya:

Maybe it's not....

:P

Rich Simpson's all round!

BB

In reply to UKC News:

Which other strong UK climbers have actually been and looked at it? How far have they got?

In reply to Toerag:

Ben Moon got pretty close I think, like going for full burns and almost doing it close IIRC

In reply to Andrew Wells:

How impressive is that pic of him doing the two finger dead hang while carrying all those weights in the other hand!

In reply to MischaHY:

erm - where? 

In reply to Toerag:

I only know of Ben who's gotten kinda close (unless you are a Rich Simpson believer of course). I wouldn't rule out the possibility of someone like Ryan Pasquill having put some time in, but that's pure speculation. I know Tom and Pete had a dabble but they didn't get properly stuck in.

https://climbing-history.org/climb/515/action-directe

In reply to remus:

I'd be surprised if Pete managed to get his fingers properly stuck in. 

In reply to UKC News:

Well done Buster. Uber strong dude.

Sav

In reply to remus:

World's smallest cult

In reply to Moacs:

He’s not small..

In reply to UKB Shark:

He's certainly a massive...

In reply to McHeath:

Apologies, the force of my enthusiasm carried me 15 mins away  

In reply to FactorXXX:

No need to explain his joke

In reply to Olaf Prot: the only place that pushes the narrative that Hubble is the world’s first 9a is UKC. Ask anyone what the world’s first 9a is pretty much anywhere else, online or off, and vast majority of answers you’ll get is that it’s Action Directe. I’m not saying Hubble isn’t 9a because that’s not my call to make, but Action Directe is still “generally regarded as the world’s first 9a”, and will continue to be until and unless talk of an upgrade is more concrete. 

In reply to cb_6:

Ondra thought 9a. Megos was reluctant to commit which is to be expected. Sean McColl got shut down. Wil Bosi thought 9a. Worry is that the recent use of kneepads on it might nudge it down again.  Personally think it’s a historical test piece that shouldn’t be done with kneepads and I thought it was cool that Toby Roberts eschewed them. 

In reply to UKB Shark: Ondra never actually red pointed it. Megos was in by far the best position to make the call and didn’t. Again, I’m not saying it isn’t the first 9a, I’m just saying that it isn’t the general consensus among the international climbing community that it is. And who knows? Maybe if Buster puts it out there that it is then maybe that will change.

In reply to cb_6:

Everyone knows Hubble is a 9a and is only not known as the first 9a as it was originally graded 8c+.  

But then given the relatively few repeats of Action Directe, it's a hard 9a.  Perhaps it would get 9a+ these days? 

In reply to cb_6:

You said it was just UKC that was pushing it. Maybe you need to get out a little more. Not one of the internationals who has tried or done it is saying 8c+. It’s also in the guide at 9a which is also not UKC. Take a look at how few people have done it. It’s got a Font 8B/8B+ move on it FFS. 

In reply to cb_6:

Well, someone has to push it, considering the inertia of tradition and fame! 

At least the famously neutral Swiss have conceded in LaCrux that Hubble May actually be the first 9a:

https://www.lacrux.com/klettern/ist-hubble-von-ben-moon-die-erste-9a-der-we....

In reply to McHeath:

Super schön.

In reply to cb_6:

Of all the ascensionists so far:

1. Ben said it's the same difficulty as AD.
2. Im not aware of a comment on the grade from Malc, Gaskins or Dunning (probably something in the mags if you want to dig through).
3. Rich Simpson said 8c+ (with the caveat that there are questions about many of his ascents)
4. Steve Mc said hard 8c+
5. Megos said 8c+
6. Bosi, Dawson, Mat Wright, Buster and Toby Roberts all said 9a
7. Ondra said 9a (with the caveat that he hasn't done it)

Given everyone who has done it in the last 6 years has suggested 9a, Ondra (the person with the most experience at the grade) suggesting 9a and Ben saying the same grade as AD I think there's a strong case to be made that it was 8c+ by the standards of the time it was done but 9a compared to other routes today.

The whole point in grades is to give you an idea of how hard something is, so if we say that with our current perspective Hubble gets the same grade as AD and there's been no major changes to either route, then it makes sense to say Hubble is the first 9a in the world.

I agree it's kinda weird that we have this strange 'adjusting of history' where a route is upgraded and then becomes the first of the grade, but it's inevitable with the imprecise nature of grading climbs and the need for multiple ascents to establish consensus on how hard something is. Exactly the same thing has happened with 9a+, where routes like Open Air and Qui have been retrospectively upgraded (though in the case of Qui this could be because of holds coming off) making them earlier than routes that were previously considered the first 9a+s.

In reply to remus:

Not exactly. What he said was: “8c+?, 9a?, 8B+? Who cares!” which I thought was a great answer for a German Anglophile. 

Güllich graded Action Direct XI, which translates as 8c+/9a, so perhaps Ben was right all along. We're waiting for you Buster! 

In reply to MischaHY:

My mind is disappointingly linear, I thought it was great. 

In reply to Duncan Campbell:

Are they actually good routes?

Having ticked the first move of both La Rambla and Biographie, i was keen to tick the first move of AC.

What a disappointment. Grotts was the word that sprang to mind. Not beautiful in any way shape or form.

Well done and all that, now get on the good stuff. 

In reply to McHeath:

Which begs the question: how are the Swiss planning to monetise that opinion

In reply to flaneur:

Maybe in the rockfax table it looks that way. But XI is widely regarded 9a solid in most other resources.

In reply to remus:

I agree with Open Air being 9a+, but disregard the absolutely logical upgrade of Hubble to 9a.
Thus, both 9a and 9a+ were FAd by the Germans Wolfgang and Alexander.

This interview of Alex Huber is worthwhile to watch. Sad to see how gutted Alex was about the nearly evolving partnership of him and Wolfgang, that was stopped by Wolfgangs tragic car accident:
youtube.com/watch?v=aSepsUJKdHs&

In reply to UKB Shark:

That's the whole boulder, i.e. the route, not an individual move.

If you watch Toby's video he is technically wearing a kneepad... it's just a terrible one

In reply to Toerag:

I don’t know how he got but Tom Bolger went on it recently, he’s certainly got the pedigree for it.