BD athlete Nico Favresse redpoints Speed (8c+) at Voralpsee, Switzerland

Black Diamond athlete Nico Favresse has traveled the world, climbing new multi-pitch routes in exotic locations. But Nico also has an eye for the iconic climbs that may not be in far-flung locales but are true classic lines. Such was the case with Speed, an incredibly sustained line at Switzerland's Voralpss crag. Below is the quick email and photos that Nico sent us after he managed the redpoint.

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I finally sent this amazing historical route called Speed in Voralpsee! It took me 12 days to do it. It's probably the longest I have spent on a sport climb. The warm temperatures of the summer and the sharp holds didn't really help either but the route was too good to give up and too many tries were too close and gave me too much hope. Sending it come as a nice pressure relief as it went down on my last day, last try before heading to my next adventure in Norway.

Speed consisted of 30 meters of slight overhang on very compact limestone and 60 very technical moves on small edges with absolutely no rests. That's why the route was called Speed by first ascensionist Beat Kammerlander who found that the best way to climb this route was to climb as fast as possible. When Beat climbed Speed in 1995 it was one of the hardest the climb in the world and for sure the hardest one in this specific style. Despite many attempts, up to this date less than 10 people have climbed it. Thank you, Beat, for this amazing piece of rock climbing and to my girlfriend Argyro Papathanasiou who was patient enough to belay me many times. She also made some nice progress with a quick ascent of Alaska kid 8a and Grenzganger 8a+

 

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