Rocasolano Makes Second Ascent of Catalan Witness the Fitness (V15)
Spanish climber Alberto “Beto” Rocasolano has repeated Chris Sharma’s Catalan Witness the Fitness at Cova del Ocell, near Barcelona, Spain—claiming the boulder problem’s second ascent. [Photo: Sharma on Witness the Fitness]
Spanish climber Alberto “Beto” Rocasolano has repeated Chris Sharma’s Catalan Witness the Fitness at Cova del Ocell, near Barcelona, Spain—claiming the boulder problem’s
second ascent.
Sharma never suggested a grade for the roof problem, but said the new line is “…something like an 8B/+ (V13/14) into an 8A+ (V12), so whatever that
means.” He left it as a call to action: “It will be really cool to see more climbers try it and get their opinion!”
Rocasolano, from Madrid, confirmed the speculated V15 grade for the problem.
“The most difficult part is a first section of seven moves, super bouldery, where I broke a crux hold and made it even more difficult,” Rocasolano said
in an interview with 8a.nu. “The second stretch is more like endurance. It’s got 17 movements in total.”
Catalan Witness the Fitness is Rocasolano’s third V15 ascent. He has repeated Nacho Sánchez’s Entropia at Castillo de Bayuela, Spain,
and in December 2014, he established Soyuz low start—a three-move intro into the original Soyuz (8B+/V14)—near Madrid.
He says he still has a few hard projects left, “…one near home which I found this year and it’s one of those that you can retire from climbing if
you send it,” he told 8a.nu, “and the other will be around 8C+ [V16] or 8C/+ [V15/16] for sure and I’m really close to send[ing] it…But one needs
to send things before bragging about them…hahaha.”
Read Chris Sharma Sends Catalan Witness the Fitness (V-Hard) in Spain
Watch Alberto Rocasolano on the first ascent of Soyuz low start (V15):