UKC

Midtbø still working Neanderthal, 9bUpdated

© Magnus Midtboe

Apologies are in order. As it now turns out, Magnus has yet to repeat Neanderthal. Apparently it was just a rumour that went viral on facebook... probably the source was an interview on Desnivel, where he, ironically, is talking about his struggle to repeat the route.
Even people who are in Santa Linya now congratulated Magnus on the ascent. I guess this says something about the world we're living in today, doesn't it?

So, after a long fight over several rounds, Magnus Midtbø has still to make the second ascent of Chris Sharma's Neanderthal, 9b, in the Santa Linya cave.

This would be Magnus' second of the grade, the first being the radically different Ali-Hulk sit start extension in the Ali-Baba cave at Rodellar.

Last spring he fell 26 times at the crux dyno separating the hard climbing below and the easier above. Obviously it became a head game, and now the count is up to 40 or so.

Chris Sharma made the first ascent of the route in 2009.

Here is a video of Magnus working the route last season.

Magnus Midtbø is sponsored by: Norrøna, Beal, Five Ten, Friction walls, Petzl, Tyrili Klatring and Varri


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Magnus Midtbø is a Norwegian rock climber and YouTuber. He retired from competitive climbing in 2017.

Magnus's Athlete Page 10 posts 4 videos



11 Feb, 2014
Great vid! Maybe shot on a drone? Really gives this crag scale
12 Feb, 2014
http://vimeo.com/69255327 - link with normal vimeo controls as the embedded version isn't showing them in IE9 / FF
Just make it fullscreen and the controls are there.
12 Feb, 2014
Ah, good to see us Norwegians out crushing! Weirdly this doesn't look *that* hard (hey, I'm sure it is!)...looks more like a 7b+ with those big holds (or maybe he has really small hands??!) OP
12 Feb, 2014
Well done UKC. Excellent journalism as always.
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