The French Paraclimber Solenne Piret has climbed Onde de Choc (f7B) (Font 7B) at Apremont in Fontainebleau. The 27-year-old was born without a right-hand, making her ascent remarkable because aspirant climbers rely heavily on holds to the right of the arete.
Piret first looked at the classic arete in 2018 but was initially shut down. At the time, she was mainly climbing indoors and her top grade in Fontainebleau was 6C. The following year, she returned and worked the line on a rope - it's fairly highball with an odd, stepped landing. She made a right-hand crimp work but says: 'the upper part was still an imaginary world for me, but I started thinking that it could work one day... with a lot of training!'
Even after moving from Paris to only ten minutes away from Onde de Choc, Piret didn't go near the problem for another year. She spent her time honing her technique on the forest's circuits. After returning and working the line with her coach, Guillaume Levernier, she began falling from the final moves.
The day after her agonisingly close attempts, Piret went to the crag with a sea of pads which was a huge confidence booster. After a few tentative attempts, she found herself on top.
Watch the video of Piret climbing Onde de Choc below:
Piret was the Paraclimbing World Champion in 2018 and 2019 in the AU-2 category. When she's not climbing, she works as a freelance architect.
Comments
Whoa. That is indeed remarkable. Well done Solenne 👍
My God, what a star. How the *f**k* did she do that?
jcm
Chapeau Solenne! That is utterly amazing!
Well done. Amazing effort.