Leo Bøe climbs to The Edge of the World (9a+) at Flatanger

Adding new bolts to the huge Flatanger cave in Norway has not been permitted for a number of years but this hasn't stopped new routes from being established thanks to a creative mix of existing bolts and trad gear. The latest, put up by Leo Bøe, promises to be a banger: 130 meters of continuous climbing through the whole roof!

Aptly called Verdens Ende, which translates from Norwegian as The Edge of the World, the route starts off by climbing the 9a Brunhilde Low, before continuing past some pumpy moves to a crimpy 7C boulder before turning the lip thanks to some small crimps and racing up 35m of 6b to the top. The entire outing checks in at 9a+.

The first section is obviously bolted, while the remaining 70 meters are protected either with wires or cams, which Bøe had carefully preplaced. According to the 26-year-old, some sections are fairly runout, but the gear is good.

What makes Bøe's ascent even more fascinating is the fact that he chose to climb it using just one 80m rope and that, to make this possibile and in order to avoid rope drag, he performed three very unorthodox rope changes. The technique went like this: at each good kneebar rest, he clipped directly into his last piece of protection, had his belayer remove the belay device, pulled the rope through all the quickdraws, and then got back on belay before continuing upward. Don't try this at home folks!

 

 

 

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