Halupca 1979 (9a) in Osp cave by Stefano Carnati

Strong Italian climber from Lombardia, Stefano Carnati striked again, this time he completed Halupca 1979 (9a) in the big cave of Osp. He commented his send of Halupca 1979 (9a) with: ”Not the style I prefer, but when you figure out how to navigate in the sea of tufas it might be fun. I believe that for climbers with the proper fitness, figuring out what to do is definitely more time-consuming than the actual send. The Osp cave is not much my place, repetitive movements, same gesture and if you are skilled at kneebaring you get kneebars everywhere and whenever you need. Anyhow it was nice to tick one off here as well!”

Halupca 1979 (9a) is in the center of the big cave in Osp and was bolted by Klemen Bečan in 2007 and next year first ascended by Matej Sova. It is composed of power endurance start in lower 8th French grade, followed directly with a hard boulder for about 10 moves on bad pinches, underclings and extreme drop knees in full roof. After the crux you have a good rest point in full roof which is followed by a hard lock-off. Some more endurance climbing on tufas and blobs leads to its anchor on around 25 meters of height. Despite its challenges, Halupca 1979 (9a) has already witnessed approximately 20 successful ascents, including one by the accomplished female climber Mina Markovič, yet is often considered slightly soft within its grade.

Meanwhile, Slovenian climber Tim Pahor climbed his hardest route until now on Slovene soil by ticking Igor Kalan’s masterpiece in the centre of Mišja peč, the beautiful Pikova dama (8b).

A talented 14 years old American girl, Maya Ene, with Romanian roots is here on advanced training climbing course with Klemen Bečan, pushing her limits in the gyms as well climbing a bit outside on the rocks of Istria. In Medveja she flashed the kneebar intense Total extrem (8a) while in Kompanj she did Realitatsverlust (8a) on her second go.

It is raining today in Istria and it should stay like this until the weekend when the sun will come back and the temperatures will rise back over 20 degrees Celsius.

See you on the rocks of Istria!