Hukkataival Finishes Bugeleisen (V14) in 'Epic' Conditions

4/18/13 – Nalle Hukkataival completed what he calls his “most epic battle” with an ascent of Bügeleisen (V14) in Maltatal in the Austrian Alps.

Bügeleisen was established by Austrian bouldering pioneer Klem Loskot in 2001. The Finnish Hukkataival first visited the climb in 2009, but the boulder was “literally a waterfall,” he writes. His “epic battle” started when he first touched the boulder this trip: The holds were wet, and despite feeling good, he postponed attempts until the problem dried. And then the climber fell ill for six days with a fever, while conditions improved at the boulder. When he recovered, conditions had again deteriorated. He managed to fire off an ascent on the last day of his trip, when “conditions were so bad that I was forced to completely change my beta, because the normal beta was just impossible in that humidity,” he said. “It was, in fact, so bad that I fell off the easier ending four times in a row, from a move that I had never fallen from before and thought I never would.” Hukkataival also accidentally punched himself in the face when he popped off unexpectedly on one attempt.

Despite all this, he extols Bügeleisen as one of “the BEST hard boulders in the world.” See Hukkataival’s ascent in the video below.

Date of ascent: April 11, 2013

Source: Nalle Hukkataival, blog.nallehukkataival.com

Bügeleisen-Nalle from Dominik Preis on Vimeo.