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Fred Rouhling
Personal information
NationalityFrench
Born (1970-01-24) January 24, 1970 (age 54)
Le Panissaud, Charente.[1]
Height5 ft 9 in (175 cm)[1]
SpouseCéline Rouhling
Climbing career
Type of climber
Highest grade
Known for
  • First 9a in France (4th in the world)[a]
  • Akira 9b grading controversy (1995)[1]
First ascents
  • UFO (8c, 1993)
  • Hugh (9a, 1993)
  • Spécialistes Direct (8c, 1994)
  • Akira (9a, 1995)
  • L'autre côté du Ciel (9a, 1996)
  • Mandallaz Drive (9a, 2004)
  • Salamandre (9a+, 2007)
Updated on 22 June 2022

Fred Rouhling (born 24 January 1970) is a French rock climber and boulderer, noted for creating and repeating some of the earliest grade 9a (5.14d) sport climbing routes in the world, including Hugh in 1993, the first-ever French 9a (5.14d) sport route.[a][1] Rouhling is also known for the controversy from his proposed grading of 9b (5.15b) for his 1995 route Akira [fr], which would have made it the world's first-ever 9b-graded sport route; 25 years later, it was graded at 9a (5.14d).[1]

Early life

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Rouhling grew up in the small French farming town of Le Panissaud. His neighboring village of Vilhonneur has a limestone quarry (which supplied materials for the Statue of Liberty).[1] Twenty minutes away is the larger town of Angoulême, where limestone crags overhang many of the roads, with the best-known being Les Eaux Claires ("The Clear Waters"), with 15 to 20-metre overhanging extreme routes that require strong fingers to manage the small pockets used to ascend them;[1] and contains nationally-regarded extreme routes such as La Crépinette (1983), France's first 8a (5.13b).[2] Rouhling began to climb in school, and by age 19 was climbing at 8b (5.13d) when the world's hardest routes were then at 8c (5.14b).[1]

Climbing career

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Hugh, first 9a in France

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In the early 1990s, Rouhling had moved to the south of France for college where he also had access to the leading sport climbing venues of France. Rouhling made the first ascent of UFO, the first 8c (5.14b) in the Calanques, and then completed Les Spécialistes Direct at the Verdon Gorge.[1] Les Spécialistes Direct was a variation on Jean-Baptiste Tribout's famous 1987 route, Les Spécialistes, which was bolted earlier by Alain Robert; with the downgrade of Les Spécialistes to 8b+, Rouhling's ascent remains the first 8c route in the gorge.[3]

Returning home in 1993, Rouhling wanted to create different routes from the long steep stamina crimpy routes of the Calanques and Verdon.[4] At his local crag of Eaux-Clairs, he freed a line he called Hugh with a double-overhanging bulge that required little footwork. Having climbed it, he made the route harder by filling in holds and chipping-out new ones that he graded at 9a (5.14d). At the time, there were only three known 9a routes in the world.[a][1] Hugh was repeated in 2001, and by Dai Koyamada (2002),[6] and Sébastien Bouin (2020), confirming the grade of 9a,[7] the first 9a in France.[5][8]

The use of chipping to create new extreme routes was not uncommon then in France,[9] and included examples such as Antoine Le Menestrel [fr]'s famous Buoux route, La Rose et la Vampire 8b (5.13d).[1][10] Some major North American routes also relied on chipped holds for their development, with examples such as The Phoenix 5.13a (7c+) in Yosemite , and Just do It 5.14c (8c+) at Smith Rocks.[1] In a 2021 documentary, Rouhling said that finding natural new hard routes is difficult (particularly of the overhanging roof style that he was attracted to) and that the chipping of new "hardest" routes was far more widespread than was understood; Rouhling also noted that other leading French climbers had manufactured such routes in their own local quarries for their development and training.[4]

Akira controversy

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Home again in 1995 as his wife was recovering from back surgery, Rouhling began work on a new route he called Akira [fr] in the Vilhonneur quarry. Akira was a 65-foot long low horizontal roof (only circa 12 feet off the ground), that he estimated had an 8B (V13) bouldering problem, with a final 20-foot 5.13b (8a) vertical section beyond the lip (the only part for which he used a rope); such a route was unprecedented as a sport climb at the time.[b][1] On completing Akira, belayed by his recovered wife, Rouhling graded it at 9b (5.15b).[1][9] At the time, nobody had climbed 9a+ (Chris Sharma would climb the world's first consensus 9a+ in 2001, and the first consensus 9b in 2008).[11] In 1997, Rouhling added another chipped route at Eaux Claire, L'autre côté du Ciel, a spectacular high roof, that he graded at 9a (5.14d).[7][12]

Rouhling faced an unprecedented level of personalized attack for Akira.[11][9] Leading climbers publicly challenged his integrity,[7][11] and various unsubstantiated theories were promoted about Rouhling and his routes.[1][13][9] Those that tried Akira, failed to climb it.[c][7][16] In 2004, Climbing sent Pete Ward (a future American Alpine Club Board member),[17] to interview Rouhling over several days, and see him on his routes.[1][13] Ward could not opine on the grade but verified that Rouhling was able to climb his routes as they were.[d][1][7] Ward also believed that Rouhling should have classed Akira as a boulder problem rather than as a sport route.[1][13] Ward was able to debunk several of the criticisms about Rouhling and Akira, and expressed a positive view of Rouhling from the interview process.[1][7][13]

In 2020, Seb Bouin climbed three of Rouhling's routes in his local crags and found two of their grades accurate at 9a (Hugh and L'autre côté du Ciel), however, he felt Akira was also a "hard 9a", and that the roof was at V9 (7C).[7][13][16] Bouin said: "Anyway this route is hard", "and quite unbelievable for the 90's".[7][18][13] Rouhling was disappointed at the downgrade and felt that the requirement to hang from a pinch hold in the roof at the first crux, while familiar in contemporary extreme routes, was novel in 1995, and was why no climber of his generation could send the route.[c][7][4] In 2021, the climbing database 8a.nu agreed that changes in equipment and techniques for roof climbing could explain much of the downgrade.[19] In 2022, climbing author Sam Anderson attributed some of the vilification of Rouhling to the fact that at the time, he was not considered "the world's best climber", and thus would not be accepted as the person who climbed "the world's hardest route".[11]

Return to climbing

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After Akira, Rouhling's wife Celine needed brain surgery for a life-threatening illness, and Rouhling largely abandoned extreme climbing for a number of years to focus on his family and young children.[1][9] In 2001, on his wife's recovery, Rouhling repeated Fred Nicole's Bain de Sang [fr],[1] that – after Fred's brother François – was the second-ever repeat of a 9a-graded route in history.[20] In 2002 and 2003, Rouhling visited Switzerland's leading bouldering areas repeating several of Fred Nicole's most notable problems including several up to V14 (8B+) (e.g. Eau Profonde), and one at V15 (8C), with E la nave va.[1][21]

In 2004, Rouhling established his fourth route above 9a with Mandallaz Drive at 9a (5.14d),[22][23] and in 2007 he added a fifth with Salamandre at 9a+ (5.15a).[24] Rouhling did not use any chipping to create these new routes, they were natural.[1] In 2007 Rouhling went on bouldering trips with French climber Romain Desgranges to Rocklands, South Africa and to Joshua Tree, California.[25] In 2010, the pair went on a bouldering trip to New Zealand where Rouhling repeated Chris Sharma's 2005 problem, Archilles last stand 8A+ (V12), which was Rouhling's 100th boulder ascent above 8A (V11).[26]

In 2009, one of the main online databases for extreme rock climbers, 8a.nu, asked the question "Is Fred Rouhling the best ever FA [first ascent] climber in the world?", noting that Rouhling's combination of first ascents for the hardest sport climbs and hard bouldering routes ranked him #3 in their All-Time High Combined rankings.[27]

In a 2021 interview, Rouhling said that he then only climbed a few times a year and that while as a climber, he was very disappointed with the reception to his 9a routes, as an artist (he sculpts in his spare time),[7] he was very proud of his creations, and the emotions and engagement that they still aroused in the climbing community.[4]

Personal life

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Rouhling is married to Céline with whom they have two children, Hugo and Chloe.[1]

Rouhling sculpts in his spare time.[7][28][29]

Notable ascents

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Redpointed routes

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9a+ (5.15a):

9a (5.14d):

  • Bain de Sang [fr] – Saint Loup, (CHF) – 2001. Third ascent of Fred Nicole's 1993 route; at the time of Rouhling's ascent, there were only four known 9a routes in the world.[32][1]
  • Akira [fr] – Vilhonneur (Charente), (FRA) – 1995. First ascent. Rouhling used some chipping and hold filling to create the route.[1] He estimated it at 9b, the world's first-ever 9b (and even 9a+) at the time, and created one of the most famous grading disputes in sport climbing history.[1] First repeat by Seb Bouin [fr] and Lucien Martinez in 2020 who assigned the route a "hard 9a" grade.[7][16][18]

8c+ (5.14c):

8c (5.14b):

Boulder problems

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V15 (8C):

  • E la nave va (Traverse) – Lindental, (SUI) – 2003. First repeat of Fred Nicole's 1994 boulder traverse problem.[41][21]

V14 (8B+):

  • Soumission – Le Bourrinoire, Haute-Savoie, (FRA) – 2006. First ascent.[42] Route was subsequently destroyed, along with Romain Desgranges's classic, Kaiser Sauzé 8C+.[43][44]
  • Eau Profonde – Kesslerloch, Schaffhausen, (SUI) – 2003(e). First repeat of Fred Nicole's 1997 boulder problem.[1]
  • Broadsword (Traverse) – Lindental, (SUI) – 2003. Repeat of Fred Nicole's 1995 boulder traverse problem.[21]
  • Va piu via (Traverse) – Lindental, (SUI) – 2003. Repeat.[21]
  • Joyeux Leon (Traverse) – La Balmaz, (SUI) – 2003. Repeat of Fred Nicole's 1992 boulder traverse problem.[21]
  • Le voyage du Crabe (Traverse) – Saint-George, (SUI) – 2003. Repeat.[21]
  • Prophécie – Saint-George, (SUI) – 2003. Repeat.[21]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d Hugh would become the fourth 9a in the world, the first was Wolfgang Gullich's Action Directe (1991), the second was Alexander Huber's Om (1992), and the third was Fred Nicole's Bain de Sang [fr] (1993).[5]
  2. ^ Long horizontal roofs were becoming more common as extreme bouldering problems, which Rouhling had the experience of doing at locations like Fontainebleau.[4]
  3. ^ a b French climber Jean-Baptiste Tribout visited Akira but failed to climb it,[7][9] and accused Rouhling of lying about ever completing the route in his book.[4] Spanish climber Dani Andrada [fr] also visited Akira and failed to climb it (although he felt it was circa 9a),[7][11][9] and Alexander Huber said that Andrada had told him Rouhling had subsequently changed the route to make it harder.[1][11] Japanese climbers Yuji Hirayama and Dai Koyamada, on a 2000 tour of Rouhling's local crags,[14] also failed to climb Akira, and felt it was much harder than Hugh,[15] which Koyamada climbed in 2002.[6]
  4. ^ Rouhling had a website called "fredrouhling.com" (now defunct) that contained video footage of him on his main routes including Hugh, L'autre côté du Ciel, and Akira, however, they can be found on youtube. Tim Kemple, accompanied Pete Ward and took photos and footage of Rouhling climbing his routes for Climbing.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Ward, Pete (2004). "The Other Side of Fred Rouhling". Climbing. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  2. ^ Gerland, Bastien (29 April 2015). "[Translated] I'll go climb with you: Eaux Claires & Gémozac". Grimper. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  3. ^ a b "[Translated] Josune chains 'Les Spécialistes direct', 8c". Desnivel. 21 October 2000. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Fred Rouhling talks Akira, downgrading and chipping in new interview". Gripped. 26 September 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Oviglia, Maurizio (23 December 2012). "The evolution of free climbing". PlanetMountain. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  6. ^ a b c "Sébastien Bouin repeats Fred Rouhling's Hugh at Eaux Claires, France's first 9a". PlanetMountain. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Levy, Michael (24 November 2020). "Fred Rouhling's "Akira," World's First Proposed 5.15b in 1995, Finally Repeated; Downgraded to 5.14d". Rock & Ice. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  8. ^ a b Jourdain, Philippe (20 October 2020). "[Translated] The history of climbing: the evolution of ratings". Grimper. Retrieved 22 June 2022. 1993 : First French 9a. Fred Rouhling - "Hugh" (Eaux-Claires)
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Fernandez, Isaac (14 April 2020). "[Translated] 'Akira' and 'Orujo', two cursed tracks". Desnivel. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  10. ^ Thornburg, Jim (22 April 2010). "Buoux: Revisiting France's Crag of the 1980s". Climbing. Retrieved 23 June 2022. In 1986, Antoine applied his "artistic" talents to his masterpiece La Rose et la Vampire (8b/5.13d), purposely chiseling the route to require an elegant, twisting, cross-body reach.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Anderson, Sam (9 March 2022). "Climbing Controversy: Behind the Decades-Long Conflict Roiling the Sport's Elite". GearJunkie. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Sébastien Bouin makes first repeat of Fred Rouhling's De l'autre Côté du Ciel". PlanetMountain. 28 November 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  13. ^ a b c d e f "Akira video: Seb Bouin repeating Fred Rouhling's testpiece". Climber. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  14. ^ a b "Rouhling related news". Climbing.de. 24 November 2000. Retrieved 22 June 2022. Not content with this the also managed to repeat Archipel, 8c+. This is the first of Rouhling harder routes to be repeated! They both confirmed the grade. Later they also worked Hugh and l´autre côté de la ciel, both 9a, without success. They agreed they are probably 9a.
  15. ^ Larrssen, Jens (4 March 2021). "Akira 9a (b) by Seb Bouin". 8a.nu. Retrieved 23 June 2022. As other hard routes from that time put up by Fred, such as Hugh 9a, have been confirmed, he had a hard time understanding the downgrading. "I don't know but limestone cracks. Perhaps the holds became bigger. When Yuji Hirayama and Dai Koyamada came to try. They thought there was a very big difference between Akira and Hugh..
  16. ^ a b c Corrigan, Keven (23 November 2020). "Fred Rouhling's Akira Sees First Repeats Since 1995 FA, Receives Downgrade". Climbing. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  17. ^ "Climb the Hill Advocate Highlight: Shelma Jun and Pete Ward". American Alpine Club. 5 September 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2022. Pete Ward is a Board Member of the American Alpine Club (AAC) as well as a member of the AAC Policy Committee.
  18. ^ a b "Fred Rouhling's Akira finally repeated after 25 years by Sébastien Bouin, Lucien Martinez". PlanetMountain. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  19. ^ Larrsen, Jens (7 March 2021). "9b to 9a logic for Akira (or even 8c+)". 8a.nu. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  20. ^ "Bain de sang, Jolly Lamberti's second 9a". PlanetMountain. 2 April 2004. Retrieved 23 June 2022. FA: Fred Nicole 1993. Repeats: François Nicole, Fred Rouhling, Cederic Bersandi, David Hohl, Josune Bereciartu, Iker Pou.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g "[Translated] Fred Nicole raises the bar". Desnivel. 14 May 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  22. ^ a b "Fred Rouhling Mandallaz Drive 9a by Baptiste Dherbilly". 8a.nu. 19 September 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  23. ^ a b Chenevier, Jean-Marc (17 September 2021). "[Translated] For the record, Baptiste Dherbilly repeats Mandalaz Drive, another legendary route by Fred Rouhling". Grimper. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  24. ^ a b "Fred Rouhling, Salamandre and climbing extreme". PlanetMountain. 27 December 2007. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  25. ^ a b "[Translated] Interview with Fred Rouhling on Salamandre ?9b?". Desnivel. 5 December 2007. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  26. ^ Pohl, Bjorn (4 January 2010). "Fred Rouhling back from New Zealand". UKClimbing. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  27. ^ Larrsen, Jens (24 February 2009). "Is Fred Rouhling the best ever FA climber in the world?". 8a.nu. Retrieved 22 June 2022. Critics should check out fredrouhling.com where most of his ascents are shown through videos. In fact, just by adding his First Ascents Fred would have been #3 in the 8a.nu All Time High Combined ranking.
  28. ^ Editorial Staff (3 October 2022). "[Translated] Fred Rouhling, an outfitter turned sculptor". Grimper. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  29. ^ "Interview de Fred Rouhling (21-10-2008)". CamptoCamp. 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  30. ^ Chenevier, Jean-Marc (26 December 2017). "[Translated] Watch Dherbilly's Second Ascent of Salamandre 5.15". Gripped. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  31. ^ "Usobiaga 8b+ on-sight, Rouhling 9a F.A." PlanetMountain. 11 November 2004. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  32. ^ Arthur, Charles (26 November 2001). "Fred Rouhling does Bain de Sang (F9a)". UKClimbing. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  33. ^ "Alessandro Lamberti repeats Hugh at Eaux Claires". PlanetMountain. 10 November 2001. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  34. ^ "Watch Seb Bouin uncut on Fred Rouhling's Hugh at Eaux Claires". PlanetMountain. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2022. The video of Sébastien Bouin at Eaux Claires repeating Hugh the first 9a in France put up by Fred Rouhling in 1993.
  35. ^ Chenevier, Jean-Marc (2 November 2009). "[Translated] Fred Rouhling's Footprints". Grimper. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  36. ^ Chenevier, Jean-Marc (6 October 2021). "[Translated] Baptiste Dherbilly repeats Footprints, the route proposed at 9a/b by Fred Rouhling!". Grimper. Retrieved 22 June 2022. [Translated] But according to him, Empreintes , instead of flirting with 9b, would be a notch less hard than the other two and would rather revolve around 8c+.
  37. ^ "[Translated] Double repeat of 'Bain de Sang', 9a". Desnivel. 21 November 2001. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  38. ^ Larrsen, Jens (19 July 2001). "P Bollinger does Kami, 8c+". 8a.nu. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  39. ^ "Zero gravity days". PlanetMountain. 26 October 2005. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  40. ^ "Josune Bereziartu unstoppable!". PlanetMountain. 23 October 2002. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  41. ^ Pegg, Dave (20 August 2003). "E Josune Va". Climbing. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  42. ^ "8B+/C by Rouhling". Climbing.de. 2 December 2006. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  43. ^ Pohl, Bjorn (5 December 2008). "There's something rotten in the state of France..." UKClimbing. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  44. ^ Larrsen, Jens (6 December 2008). "Vandalism of French boulders, encore..." 8a.nu. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
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