Published December 17, 2004 09:32AM
Swiss climber Didier Berthod, who last year climbed a 5.14a roof crack in Italy, redpointed perhaps the hardest route in Indian Creek, Utah, during a long visit this fall. Berthod’s From Switzerland With Love is a 45-foot, overhanging finger crack at the Reservoir Wall that required five days of work to redpoint. The crux sequence involves deadpointing from fingerlock to fingerlock with no footholds, then a lunging face move to a heel hook and a fingerlock a body length apart. Placing pro from this horizontally extended stance is a must-not-blow-it proposition, with a ledge 20 feet down. Berthod, who quickly ticked numerous Indian Creek testpieces, rated the new climb 5.13+.