Alex Megos repeats Becoming, 9a+

24th October, 2016

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Alex Megos on Becoming, 9a+, Rotenstein, Frankenjura
© Christoph Hanke

Alex Megos has repeated Markus Bock's The Becoming, 9a+, at Rotenstein in Frankenjura, Germany.

For Alex, it was of course nice to be able to repeat one of the, for him, last remaining hard routes in the Frankenjura, but at the same time he says that he was appalled by the amount of chipping and glueing in the route.

Is chipping still an issue or is it widely accepted now? Is it ok to chip? Did I miss something??
Maybe. Looks like everybody is doing it and nobody seems to say anything...

That thing [The Becoming] is absolutely glued.
And the one to the right of that one as well...
And the one to the right of that is even worse!

Markus made the first ascent in 2014 and described the rock as "bulletproof" at the time.

In an upcoming interview, I and Alex will discuss this issue a lot more.

What do you think about it? Is it still a big problem?

This post has been read 9,572 times

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Comments

Shani

24 Oct, 2016

"...he was appalled by the amount of chipping and glueing in the route." Nice one Alex, for both the ascent and the principled stand!

winhill

24 Oct, 2016

"For Alex, it was of course nice to be able to repeat one of the, for him, last remaining hard routes in the Frankenjura" !

douwe

24 Oct, 2016

Isn't the route called "Becoming" (without The)? Since it's Marcus Bock's route it probably refers to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ht3XGhlfYs

Knut R.

24 Oct, 2016

And a year ago, Megos commented on another Bock route: "Sad to see that there is some Sika in the route to create unnecessary holds..." Seems that both Megos and Bock are consistent in their views on climbing ethics.

stp

24 Oct, 2016

Interesting and I wonder if there will be a reply from Markus Bock. If he doesn't make some kind of statement he will just appear guilty. If the route can be climbed without the chipped holds then perhaps they should be filled in. The first person to reclimb the route should rename it and be credited with the first ascent. The Frankenjura rock is very different to the limestone here which is continually breaking off and often needs some glue to hold it together. Any details on how long it took Alex to do?

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