4/28/11 - Germany's Dorothea Karalus has made the potential second female ascent of Magic Wood's Pura Vida (V12/13). (Barbara Zangerl of Austria made the first female ascent in May 2008 and Anna Stohr followed in September 2010.) Karalus worked out the moves fairly quickly, and sent it "surprisingly controlled," she says on her blog. "Power endurance is not my forte at all!"
She had climbed at this boulder previously (Schneesturm, V10) and "really liked this block. The style fits me well, and it's in a pretty surrounding, a bit secluded from the main sectors," she says.
On a recent trip to Fontainebleau, she managed V11 ascents of Duel, Sale Gosse Assis, and Fata Morgana (first female ascent). Watch a video of her on Duel below.
Elsewhere in Switzerland, Italian Gabriele Moroni made the second ascent of Dave Graham's Coup de Grace in Ticino, Switzerland. Graham found and bolted the line in May 2005 but had to wait out hot temps and bad weather to make the ascent, which went down in August. Coup de Grace (5.14d/15a) begins with 11 moves of V12/13, moves into a 15-move V11 section, and trends into a 20-foot, V11/12 roof section. Once you pull the roof, about 30 feet of V6 moves follow an overhanging arête. Dave Graham originally suggested 5.15a, but Moroni feels it could be a bit softer: "Found an easier (for me) beta for the start at about V11 instead of Dave's beta at around V13." It took Moroni 12 attempts to finish the boulder.
