Björn Pohl - UKCJakob Schubert has managed to flash Chris Sharma's Catalan Witness the fitness, ~8C, in the Cova del ocell near Barcelona. The problem was originally given ~8C, and as far as I know none of the repeaters has suggested anything less than soft ~8C.
Jakob himself takes the humble approach:
What a day! Since our flights are quite late we decided to stop at Cova del ocell before heading to the airport.
I already thought this boulder would fit me very well (steep climbing on crimps) and I was right. With the perfect support from @janhojer and @marcojubes I was able to flash it, thanks a lot buddies 🙌 This boulder has been called fb 8C in the past but as nice as a 8C flash sounds I can't agree, guess it is more like low end 8B+.
The Austrian is not the first to flash a problem graded ~8C. In late November, Daniel Woods flashed Fred Nicole's Entlinge at Murgtal, a problem which, at the time, was considered ~8C. The consensus now seems to be ~8B/+ or so, Whether the grade of Catalan Witness the fitness will go down the same path of course remains to be seen.
Jakob is obviously in excellent shape after a vacation where he managed to climb both 9b and 9a+.
Jakob Schubert is sponsored by: La Sportiva and Mammut
