Build My Own FeedToni Lamprecht nabs first ascent of his hardest boulder problem yet
Early in March 2009, Toni Lamprecht (aka “the Antonator”) sent us the following email about his completion of his long-term bouldering project: Bokassa's Fridge - Assassin, Monkey and Man, a link-up of two problems at Altantiswand near Kochel, Germany, 45 minutes from his home in Munich. Toni reckons the problem is his hardest ever and suggests the grade may be Fb 8c+ (V16), but notes that the real prize was to stumble into such a personal achievement so close to home.
The last five months I spent trying a bouldering project close to my home area. What started as a training game soon became a realistic goal for a high-end climbing target. I got really addicted to the involved movements and tried it three or four times a week, no matter how bad the weather was.
But let me tell you where it started: There are two hard variations in Kochel that I climbed in the last years, the Assassin, Monkey and Man (Fb 8c) and Bokassa's Fridge (Fb 8b/c). Both have a weak point avoiding the total straight line on a seven-meter long overhanging prow. While the Bokassa's Fridge went straight but avoided the high exit (the ground is sloping down to another wall below the cliff, so it makes the last moves kind of sketchy), the Assassin traversed into a dihedral in the beginning.
What seemed a logical, straighter solution came to me half a year later, while playing around on the moves again to get fitter. First I tried the straight line only as a training game, because I had the long-term target to climb other hard projects this summer. After two holds (a little edge in the middle and the crucial Assassin hold in the dihedral) changed due to some weight inflation (I gained a few ponds over Christmas…), I looked at the "project" more seriously and although I fell really bad on my ass and injured the sacral bone in the Ticino around New Years, I tried the project with more enthusiasm, managing to do it in three parts by the end of January. But the injury got worse because I never really stopped bouldering and in the end of January I got really painful Ischias problems as well. After a two weeks break I felt better and fitter: almost 10 kilos lighter than in December and without the pain in my back. My climbing improved really fast and I did the thing with one rest in the middle of February. I bouldered a few other projects at home and on a trip to Spain and when I came back, it seemed the right time to attack the prow seriously. After more than 100 tries on 30-plus days over almost 5 months I succeeded last Saturday (March 7th), completing all the moves in a row after falling four times at the beginning.
It is hard for me to compare Bokassa's Fridge-Assassin, Monkey and Man to other boulders because what started as a sort of fitness game became soon a serious target in my mind and ended (after some holds changed) as the new bouldering highlight in front of my home. I wouldn't consider it as a great line, but at home it is something that is special. It has nice, powerful, long moves along a prow with a scary topout. And you can try every day because the rock is always dry. Maybe it just happens, that you climb things like this one.
The name is similar to the climb: a combination of the two "old" boulders, same as the grade, that is only a logical addition to the difficulties that have been there before. The future will show if the climb will be enjoyed by others as much as it has been by me...
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