Iker Pou's European climbing tour

In two months Iker Pou repeats Fred Nicole’s Elfe in Switzerland, and a number or testpieces in the Frankenjura, including Maharadscha Fb 8b, Showdown (8c), Raubritter (8c) and Wolfgang Güllich’s rarely repeated Wallstreet Original (8c/8c+)

Roberto Fioravanti

June 2001

Traduci in

The Spaniard Iker Pou has decided to return home after almost two months of travels in which he has climbed some of the hardest routes in Europe. The most recent “icing on the cake” is his fast redpoint of the famous Elfe, Fred Nicole’s ’97 testpiece at the Grimselpass, Switzerland. He needed just seven attempts to send the route, second day, and it seems as if he could even have climbed it on his first day. But as we all know, almost doesn’t count…

Other achievements
Iker’s achievements so far this year have been outstanding. Before travelling to Switzerland the 24 year old paid a visit to Germany’s Frankenjura, where he made impressively short work of the boulder problem Maharadscha Fb 8b and the routes Showdown (8c) and Raubritter (8c). Even more outstanding though was his redpoint of Wolfgang GÃ¼llich’s rarely repeated Wallstreet Original (8c/8c+).

'Elfe'
It is interesting to analyse Iker’s comment about ‘Elfe’ which, as some may remember, was originally graded 8c/9a before settling at 8c+ after Klem Loskot’s 1999 repeat.

Pou states “ I'm surprised by my performance. I feel really fit at the moment and after a week of bad weather I was also really motivated. The line here is really perfect, one of the best I’ve ever climbed. I can't confirm the grade though, as Elfe seemed to me more like an 8c. If I compare it with Action Directe (repeated by Pou in 2000, Editor’s note) I'll definitely say it’s a different grade. The starting boulder is more like 7c+ when compared with the grades in Cresciano and after that the route is about 8a+. At the same time though I know about Fred and Klem’s reputation and I don’t want to be polemical.”

Pou concludes by saying “It’s a good period for me, I feel much stronger then ever and it may be that I'm underestimating the route. I must admit it suits my style, really overhanging and powerful. And then it is such a perfect line…you just can’t not do it."