Jules Marchaland climbs 'Beyond' (9a+) second go
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Lucien Martinez
France's Jules Marchaland has just completed what he himself has described as "maybe the best climbing moment of my life" after making a remarkable, second-go ascent of Beyond at Pic Saint Loup in France.
Located in the La Baume des Escargots sector, the route was originally bolted by Frederic Ferraro and first climbed in 2019 by Sébastien Bouin and Lucien Martinez as a 9a. After a hold broke, the difficulty was upgraded to 9a+, with notable repeats being made by by Bouin, Tanguy Merard, and Seb Berthe.
On social media, 23-year-old Marchaland stated: "After checking the beta, I knew it could be possible to do it quickly, but I had to do everything perfectly. And everything went better than I expected." He added " he last 10 meters on tufas (≈7c) was completely wet, It was one of the biggest mental battle of my life. I was so Scared, exhausted, but super excited."
On the grade, Marchaland said: "my feeling would be that it’s clearly soft for a 9a+. But is it a very soft 9a+? A very hard 9a? Or a 9a/+? Honestly, I don’t care and I’m really happy of what I’ve done!"
This marks Marchaland's fourth 9a+, following PuntX in the Gorges du Loup, First Ley at Margalef, and Super Crackinette at Saint-Léger du Ventoux. He considers Beyond the easiest of the four, but added: "It’s totally my style."
Next goal? 9b.
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