Back in January, Italian climber Alessandro Zeni made the first ascent of Cryptography at Saint Loup in Switzerland. The route links Bain de Sang (9a) and Bimbaluna (9a/9a+), avoiding the rests on both routes and essentially linking the cruxes together. Zeni has graded the route 9b and if confirmed, would make it one of the hardest slabs in the world.
Watch the video of the ascent below:
Bain de Sang was first climbed by Fred Nicole back in 1993 and Bimbaluna was climbed by François Nicole in 2004. For Zeni, these routes aren't the first desperate slab climbs he has done. In 2018, he made the first ascent of Energia Cosmica, which he graded 9a+.
Comments
Looks nails, interesting to see something of that standard that isn't over-hanging or even vert. However the music did make me wonder if he was gonna have an epic fight scene with his belayer at the end!
ma cosa ha mai fatto sulla grinta ?
:-)
Steve
Yeah, I'm pretty disappointed he didn't slay a dragon when he got to the belay.
He is Italian though, and every Italian guidebook I've read will call a wall a slab :-(.
Swanage- home of British slab climbing!