Afgelopen zondag klom de 21-jarige Simon Plum uit Aken de laatste onbeklommen route van Berdorf. 22 jaar lang was “Nikita” de onmogelijke lijn van het sprookjesbos en heel wat klimmers beten er hun tanden (beter gezegd vinger) op kapot. Zo’n eerstbeklimming vraagt natuurlijk om een interview.
Het woord is aan Simon:
Can you tell something about yourself and your climbing background?
I am not a hundred percent sure that I am right but I think that I entered Musti Eren’s youth climbing group exactly 10 years ago, giving everything happening right now kind of a symbolic meaning, like a hundred strings running together in the here and now… After my first visit in Musti’s group I was ever psyched to go climbing, quit playing football shortly after and spent my first years climbing in Aachen’s Tivoli Rock, growing as a climber and a person. I think that already in my early days people were able to see that I might be a pretty good climber one day. The greatest fun for me as 13 or 14-years old was to climb with the older, more experienced and of course way cooler guys hanging around in the gym and being able to send one of their routes or boulder problems once in a while.
I started competing and I’d lie to say it wasn’t fun at all, but it wasn’t the real thing for me either. I think I would have stopped climbing like a lot of other teens in a certain age do if I would not have started climbing outdoors (yes, hardly ever did that in the first years, unimaginable for me right now!). This newfound passion gave me strength in times when I wasn’t doing well in the comps.
Simon Plum on "Nikita" 8c in Berdorf (photo: Thomas Schermer)
This year your climbed your first 8b+ and last Sunday you climbed the last unclimbed line (named Nikita) of Berdorf. This is an absolutely amazing achievement, congratulations! Can you tell us why you chose this route, taking into account the reputation of it?
Thank you! Well, after doing 99% bouldering for the last two years I began feeling a little bored by trying to do the sickest hardest moves the world has ever seen in every single session and failing to execute the moves most of the time. I wanted to climb again, do more than five moves in a row, and have the whole experience of sportclimbing once again. So when Martin Classen asked me to go on a short trip to Berdorf I was in with no hesitation. After all the bouldering the single moves on routes like ”Sisyphe” weren’t too big of a challenge anymore and I had quick success on a combination called ”Escalation” as well. Here it all comes down to a short crux sequence, so it’s basically bouldering on a rope.
After two very successful days I was confronted with a weird situation: there was hardly anything left to do in Berdorf. Martin proposed to try Nikita, so I started trying the crux in the lower part with zero expectations. I had seen Daniel Jung trying it as well and what I had seen looked impossible to me. But still I made it into the same position as Daniel did, psyche was on and I was sure that it was possible, yet still very hard.
What type of route is Nikita and what was the difficulty in particular for you?
Nikita starts off with a boulder problem around Fb8a followed by a decent rest and another boulder around Fb7b. After that it’s like 7c to the top. The crux revolves around a shitty mono left hand and a very small crimp right hand. It would be impossible to hold on these holds if your left heel wasn’t jammed underneath a little roof. From this position you have to do a big move to a sidepull jug but since you have to pull on the mono very hard it’s extremely physical. The key for success is the correct placement of the right foot’s toe in a tiny pocket. The crux is only over when you manage to rearrange the feet placement in order to match hands on the good sidepull.
How long did it take to actually climb the route and did you train specifically for it?
I tried to prepare for the mono by using only one or two fingers each hand on easy problems in the gym. Surprisingly I managed to climb the route on my second session. After unravelling the crux I linked it on my fourth go.
Simon Plum on "Nikita" 8c in Berdorf (photo: Thomas Schermer)
Many climbers from the Euregio grew up with this fairytale-like climbing crack and you manage to climb the last long-standing open project in Berdorf. How do you feel about that?
Well, I am super proud of it! It really is an honour for me to add something to the area. The scenery is amazing, the rock quality is prime and there is a very high concentration of amazing bouldery routes. I’ve ever liked it since my first visits in 2008. Still it feels all a little unreal to me. So many strong climbers tried it, a lot of them way stronger in their overall performance than me, but I am the one who did it. Maybe it was my style, maybe my love for the crag that made me send it!
At last, would you share some of your future plans or projects?
My only goal for 2012 is to finish “The Riverbed” (red: 8B) in Magic Wood. I am really into this fancy 3D climbing style with toehooks and bicycles and stuff, really like that! In September I move to Frankenjura for an apprenticeship as a carpenter. I’m quite sure I’ll find one or another project down there 
Lees meer op Simon zijn blog.
Met dank aan Thomas Schermer voor de foto’s!
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