One try was all Daniel Woods needed for the six moves of Entlinge, a V15 established by Fred Nicole in Murgtal, Switzerland.

“The whole day felt like being in a dream,” writes Woods on 8a.nu. “Climbing seemed effortless.”

Woods gave Entlinge a personal grade of V14 however.

“For me the climb was 8B+(V14),” he writes. “It is the epitome of my style. I feel like I have trained for this boulder for the past four years.

Fred Nicole, who worked the line intermittently for a few years before finally succeeding, climbed Entlinge in the spring of 2005. Bernd Zangerl made the second ascent in 2009, which can be seen in the video below.

Rock and Ice caught up with Woods to talk about the flash ascent.

When did you first hear about Entlinge?

I have known about Entlinge since it was first established in 2005 by Fred Nicole. Fred stated that it was one of his hardest problems compared to Terremer, which is located in Hueco Tanks, TX.

Did you initially consider attempting a flash ascent?

I always joked with the thought that this line could be flashed, but knew that it was one of the hardest boulders in Europe. This is the kind of climbing that I had always trained for in CATS. I studied the video of Bernd Zangerl climbing the line and knew that there were not too many complications besides pulling as hard as you can. I was about to try the crux moves, but decided to just give it a flash effort for fun.

What were the conditions like?

The conditions were perfect. Three degrees Celsius and a light humid air surrounded the boulder. It felt as if I was in this perfect force field and all I had to do was hold on tight.

How did the flash ascent feel?

The intro moves went perfectly and I found myself staring down the crux move. This move revolves around a split finger half pad pinch with the left hand (a key thumb catch had just broken, so now you just have to apply pressure to the wall) and a hard tension move with the right hand to a very poor sloping intermediate. Here you have to release the left foot, keep the tension and cross the left foot through to the second hold and move the right foot into a flat toe hook. When I arrived to this move I just went fast and snatched the final quarter pad incut. I knew it was not over, but all that was left was getting double toe hooks in a bat hang position and matching the flat ledge. When all of this happened a sudden rush of energy hit me and I slowed my heart rate down to just top out.

Were you surprised afterwards?

I could not believe that everything went perfectly and I got really lucky. That is what flashing comes down too... pure luck. I had no expectations to flash, but the beauty of the line and moves motivated me to try 100%. My mind was blank when I started and it finished off in bliss. Afterwards, I tried the moves again and had a hard time doing them.

[Daniel Woods cranking Entlinge. Photo by Guntram Jorg.]