26 June 2020
Anak Verhoeven first ascent of Kraftio 8c+/9a.
Some days before she had already done the first part of the route, a hard 8c named Bonsai. It was first climbed by Simon Lorenzi in November 2019 and had become a separate route when Sébastien Berthe and François Kivik made the route go to the right after the first crux by adding 2 bolts (see picture below).
The part of the route going left and all the way to the top was still unclimbed.
Anak tells the story:
“After I had done the first part of ‘The Project’ some days ago, I returned to try the full line which was waiting for a first ascent.
I passed the crux of the first part again like I had done a few days back. What a relief!
Some better holds guided me to the crux moves of the unsent project. I passed those too!
A last risky move awaited me. I jumped for the hole... And missed it! Nooo :/
After a good break, I was standing underneath the rock again for another attempt.
I wasn’t looking forward to fighting through the cruxes all over again, but when I started climbing I somehow felt less nervous and managed to enjoy what I was doing.
I passed the first crux, then the second one AND the risky move too!
Some holds later I clipped the chains!”
Anak named the route Kraftio and proposed the grade 8c+/9a making it the hardest route on Belgian soil.
The name is given in homage of Chloé Graftiaux (Kraftio sounds like Graftiaux), a top Belgian climber who died almost 10 years ago in the mountains around Chamonix. She was 23 years old, which is Anak’s age right now.
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