American climber Anna Hazlett has repeated Prinzip Hoffnung (X+) (8b+/E9/10) on the Bürser Platte in Bürs, Austria. 

The technical slab was first climbed by Beat Kammerlander in 2009. It weighs in at around F8b/+ and is protected by several microwires. Kammerlander originally climbed the line on bolts, but returned a decade after the first ascent and climbed it on trad gear.  The route is bold and has the potential for long falls, especially if the small gear dislodges during an ascent or fall. 

Anna - who uses the moniker 'Anna Hazelnutt' on social media - had been working the line with Tom Randall. She told UKC:

'Prinzip Hoffnung is seriously a dream climb! Tom and I have been eyeing this line for quite some time now, a perfect mix of crack and slab - although it was definitely more cracky than I anticipated!'

The pair arrived in Austria with lingering injuries— Anna with a shoulder problem and Tom a finger issue—and a feeling of uncertainty as to the viability of their objective. A poor weather forecast forced them into action. Anna said:

'About 3 days into our trip, we saw that the weather was going to take a turn for the worse, turning our 3 weeks into potentially 9 days! We got lucky with some days clearing up quickly, and at any weather window that opened up we would race our bikes to the wall to see if it was dry enough to hop on. My last session before I sent, I was rehearsing moves while it was actively raining!'

The climb took Anna two weeks of projecting between weather windows, and she was successful on her third redpoint attempt, after taking a big fall of around 10-12+ metres at the end of the run-out crux. She commented:

'The runout itself is not so long but falling at the end risks the last Superlight breaking - Tom actually broke the nut on his fall and ripped out the next piece of gear, falling maybe 15-20 metres. With the rope stretch I feel I personally fell maybe 10-12 metres, but the gear didn't break on me, thankfully! The runout is probably 4.5 metres itself. At first I was terrified of the runout, but admittedly the whip was super fun, haha. Although I'm glad I didn't have to take it again!'

The line is Anna's third E9 after Once Upon a Time in the South West (UKC News) and Walk of Life (UKC News), having only begun trad climbing in 2021. She added:

'This climb also felt like a small step up in difficulty from previous projects at 8b/+ E9/10.'