NewsFred Nicole sends Dreamtime 8c at Cresciano, Switzerland
 Fred Nicole on "Dreamtime". photo Roberto Fioravanti | |||
 Does the South African air enhance top performances? It seems so, as the Swiss boulderer Fred Nicole has just returned from there and recently sent his latest, incredible testpiece."Dreamtime" is its name, located in Switzerland's Cresciano. A perfect dream line, cultivated, attempted again and again until freed. A true boulder problem, maximum intensity, the suggested grade 8c. Possibly the first of its kind. A sit-start leads in 21 moves through a 50¡ overhang to the top. Ten meters in length, made possible by the fact that the ground slopes all the way, keeping fallsƒ acceptable. "Dreamtime" is divided into two sections with a "concentration break" at half-height. The first section, a fingery 8a+, leads to a 2cm edge from where one chalks up and dynos into the second section, an 8b+ in its own right. 45¡ slopers, push moves and a series of undercuts lead to the mantleshelf finish. Maximum intensity and breathless. Nicole believes this is his hardest boulder problem to date and proposes Font 8c, stating that the true grade needs to be confirmed by future repeats. Fred Nicole and Fatman at Fontainebleau |
