Toni Lamprecht makes first ascent of Black Flag 8c+/9a at Rockywand in Germany

43-year-old German climber Toni Lamprecht has made the first ascent of Black Flag 8c+/9a at Rockywand, Kochel, Germany.
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Toni Lamprecht making the first ascnent of Black Flag 8c+/9a, Rockywand, Kochel, Germany
Dennis Illing
Making the first ascent of an 8c+/9a aged 43 isn't a world record, but it certainly isn't an everyday occurrence and that's why we're delighted to report about the first ascent of Black Flag at the hands of Toni Lamprecht, the German sports climber and boulderer who for more than 25 years has consistently been one of the leading figures in his home Kochel area. This mountain massif in Bavaria, southern Germany, hosts numerous crags including the historic Rockywand, a clean sheet of limestone that until only a few days ago had, as its hardest, the 8c Nangijala, freed by Lamprecht back in 1994.

Rockywand hosts circa 70 routes, including variations, and many believed there was no more room at this crag for further development. Not so Kochel local Lamprecht who in winter 2012/2013 put his crashpad to one side and bolted a line through the most obvious, 35m high bulging central section. That spring Lamprecht climbed the upper section without falling, an 8c in its own right, but this February a hold broke off in the crux section, rendering this even more spicy with bouldery moves estimated at circa 7C+. This winter, after months of climbing and countless attempts, Lamprecht finally freed the route when for a brief moment "the rock was distracted."

Lamprecht describes Black Flag as a route that "requires the whole repertoire of modern climber's art: from the fully outstretched move, rapidly thrown out dynos, wild compression, up to sensitive endurance climbing at the top. Everything is found here. After a pumpy 7b start, a complicated 7C + Boulder problem leads into another 8a-passage and a pumpy finish. It doesn’t get any better – not only in Kochel."

For the record, in the future Black Flag might be developed further, as the upper section could be reached not via the 7b start but by an 8b section, which would obviously make things even more difficult. Talking of difficulties: Black Flag isn't Lamprecht's hardest. In 2006 the German made the first ascent of Marsupilami at Atlantiswand, a confirmed 9a, while he himself suspects that his hardest redpoint is Die Welle, a 9a that dates back to 2001 and that is still unrepeated...




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