Everyone interested in rock climbing has probably heard the name „Action Directe“ at some point. 25 years ago, on september 14th 1991, climbing legend Wolfgang Güllich sent this route by Milan Sykora. It was the first route in the grade 11 / 9a, which of course made it the hardest route in the world at that point.
A couple of weeks ago, I coincidentally met David Firnenburg at the Waldkopf, while we were on a family hike. I had my camera gear with me and we decided to shoot a couple of photos of his attempts. He came really close to sending the route, falling on the very last move twice on that day. He told me that in total, he had fallen on that move seven times already during his last visits to the Waldkopf.

Two weeks later I got a text from him, letting me know that he had finally succeeded in sending it on his 10th attempt! Congratulations again David!!! 🙂