Mayan Smith-Gobat gets down to business with L’arcademicien (5.14b or 8c), Céüse, France. Photos by Max Farr.
Mayan Smith-Gobat gets down to business with L’arcademicien (5.14b or 8c), Céüse, France. Photos by Max Farr.
New Link: On September 5th, 2009, after two weeks of work, Mayan Smith-Gobat of New Zealand redpointed her hardest route yet, L’arcademicien (5.14b or 8c), at the world class sport crag of Céüse, France.
L’arcademicien is a relatively new route with 25 meters of very sustained, technical climbing on micro holds. Smith-Gobat suspects that her recent ascent is the hardest redpoint by a New Zealand woman and possibly only the second time any kiwi has climbed a route of this grade outside of New Zealand.
Smith-Gobat wrote on her blog that, "The timing was perfect; I only had one more climbing day at Céüse before heading back up to Germany and preparing for the next challenge: In mid-September we fly to the USA, where my partner and I intend to spend two months learning to climb cracks in Yosemite Valley."