Dani Andrada has given 9b (5.15b) to a link-up he has completed in the Alí Baba cave at Rodellar, Spain. The climb adds about 25 feet of 5.14a to the 5.15a sit-start version of Alí Hulk, creating the longest link-up in the low-ceilinged cave. 

In mid-September, Andrada completed an extended version of Alí Hulk and called it 9a+ (5.15a). Then, in November, he linked the extended track with the sit start he had done in 2006 to create a pitch that has about 110 feet of mostly horizontal roof climbing. 

On Andrada’s Petzl team blog (daniandrada.petzlteam.com), he wrote: “The latest route (9b) is a further extension of Ali Hulk (sit-start), which I completed in summer 2006. This is 9a+, involving powerful 7C bouldering, followed by continuous 8c roof climbing, totaling 25 meters in all. The 9b takes the same lower part, but with a logical extension, which adds 8 meters of 8b+ endurance climbing at the end. The only rest is a painful knee-bar about halfway up, although some people find it impossible to use.” 

Andrada bouldered most of the route, but wore a harness and clipped a rope into three bolts to protect the higher end of the extension. 

Get a feel for the difficulties in this video of Dave Graham at work on Alí Hulk: desnivel.com. 

Date of Ascent: November 8, 2007 

Sources: 8a.nu, daniandrada.petzlteam.com, Dave Graham Pro Blog 12 — Climbing.com, Desnivel.com

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