The story of a red-point ascent or "what really happened"…
"La Planta de Shiva" is a 50 m route in Villanueva del Rosario, a small, typically Andalusian village in southern Spain. Over 120 moves, small edges, an endurance test par excellence. You first climb the first pitch at grade 8c before reaching a moderate belay. Then comes the second part, which checks in at approximately 9a/+. Together, you get "La Planta de Shiva" 9b. First climbed by Adam Ondra in 2011 and an elite circle such as Jakob Schubert, Angy Eiter, Jorge Diaz-Rullo and Anak Verhoeven, who were already able to secure a repeat.
7 ascents, until the following happened on November 7…
7:00 am I love my routine. A daily routine, in life in Villanueva, was always the same. Get up at 7:00 am, have breakfast and let the day begin.
8:00 am Prepare all the luggage and climbing gear I need for the day. Food, clothes and other things. Then stretching, gymnastics, warming up and visualizing the route. After countless days on the project, visualizing is becoming difficult. Sometimes it happens that while visualizing I think again: "Hopefully I won't fall at the same place again", "Hopefully I won't slip off the foothold". All negative thoughts. I immediately realize I have to counteract it. So relax and visualize the sequence again. Start over again. This is not only very exhausting, it also reflects very much on physical well-being. I notice the tension all over my body.
9:30 am Read something, a small snack and off to the rock. The apartment in Villanueva is ideally located and so you are at the climbing sector parking lot in a short time.
10:45 am It is a short approach of approx. 20 min through olive trees. For the day, a north wind is forecast with pleasant temperatures. Meanwhile I know that I need a north wind. Because it then brings cool air directly to the wall. Optimal conditions develop when the wind comes from the south, it is rather still at the wall and often too humid and too exhausting to be able to fix the small edges.
11:00 am On the way I then noticed. Wind comes from the south. Again not optimal. This easily gets stuck in your head, counteract again, just don't let negative energy arise. Finally arriving at the base of the wall, my usual warm-up program begins. Stretching/strengthening exercises with the resistance band, tension exercises, warming up the fingers on the hangboard.
11:30 am Climb the same warm-up routes again. Rhythm gives confidence. Focus on my techniques.
Meanwhile, I have perfected my program so that I know which route I have to climb, how many breaks I have to take. From the first warm-up tour to the second, it is exactly 40 minutes. As the second warm-up tour, I start on "La Planta", until the fifth bolt in the second pitch, I climb in sequences with sufficient rest.
Then a one hour and 15 minute break until the first attempt of the day. 40 minutes before the attempt, I climb another 20 moves in an 8b. It may look like constraints, everything is timed, but that way I know exactly that I can deliver the perfect performance at point X.
2:00 pm Then finally the time for the first attempt has come. I immediately notice that the conditions are not ideal. Almost no wind. Should I climb with a T-shirt, or without. Without a T-shirt it will probably be too cold for me. I decide on the T-shirt and the wind dies down.
A climber started a few routes next to me a while ago. He comes very close to me in the second pitch. That throws me off at the end of the 8c pitch. It rattles in my head. And
Zap, second pitch, second bolt, where I have already fallen at least 20 times, it comes again, the fear, panic, that time is running out. Already I'm hanging in the rope again. The approx. 21st time.
2:30 pm At the rock it gets a bit cooler. I decide to go down. To a meadow with olive trees. There the sun shines. And there you can spend your break. Two hours are planned, whereby after one hour another easy warm-up tour is scheduled.
During the break I think again. Visualize again. I have given my best. Only sometimes it is not enough and does not help. Rather, sometimes you just have to give 120%. Go into the fight. Meanwhile I have perfected and automated these moves so that I can trust my body. I feel that it is the perfect way.
Anyway, there are not many climbing days left on vacation. Will this be the best day?
3:30 pm One hour break is over. I make my way back to the field.
The steps are slow. I know exactly that I have to save every energy going uphill. Because the route is long. The feet must remain loose and relaxed. I feel like a ski jumper who slowly makes his way up to the jump. I stand directly at the start of my project. Spontaneously I decide: "Okay, actually I don't feel like waiting another hour. I will just hang on the hold. I am ready!"
3:50 pm I get ready at the start. The T-shirt stays on, meanwhile the wind comes. No matter from which direction, I only know it is pleasant, not too strong. Sometimes it dies down. I start. The first bolts feel a bit spongy. I feel queasy in the stomach. After a hard sequence then the best belay in the middle of the first pitch. I feel that I can relax, the breathing relaxes, it is my friend and I can trust myself.
Let's go! Belay one: those are the perfect conditions. That is exactly what I want. I have my goal in mind. The problem meanwhile is merely that the moves are so automated. Then you can think too many thoughts while climbing. That can make you lose focus.
Okay, push thoughts aside, I know exactly that I can shake 16 times at the 8c belay. Then it starts! The moves to the second bolt feel perfect, I reach the second bolt. I have only managed that five times so far. I feel strong. The third bolt is not clipped, on to the fourth bolt. I reach my high point. Meanwhile I have so well bulded out the individual spots, so perfected, climbed in sequences and also overlapped. My body knows exactly what to do. And I have to trust it. And I can! Everything happens as if by itself, everything feels heavy. Sure, I have never climbed that far before. All the lactate makes it noticeable in the body already. I reach the next shake-out point. Unconsciously I notice that it has become completely quiet at the wall. It also becomes quiet in the head. I can relax a bit, I have to relax. The next sequence will be difficult. It will be shaken out 16 times again. Then Go-Time. There is no way back. The next moves initially feel incredibly easy! But then I suddenly notice how it gets really hard. Fight, fight, fight hammers in the head.
Short shake-out point. I realize, this is the attempt. I will not experience any better attempts on vacation anymore. Either now or never. On the one hand, relaxation spreads: You can do it! A few hard moves. Then it is over. The moves work better than almost ever. The adrenaline, dopamine, everything mixes together. In the last moves to the top a mixture of feelings spreads: "I am floating on clouds" and "I am dead tired". All the tension over two years falls off in that fraction of a second. At clipping the belay first a short silence, before everything explodes. My screams of relief and unbridled joy echo through the area.
I have conquered the route. I have conquered myself. Above all myself.
While lowering, tears of joy and relief mix together. I tie out. Make my way with weak knees to my belay partner. My trainer, friend and dad in one person. We are happy and lie in each other's arms! It is done, "La Planta de Shiva" 9b, 8th ascent by Martin Tekles
