The Russian climber Vadim Timonov succeeds in the first ascent of his long-term project. He rates the boulder backflip sit in the Djan Tugan area with 8C+/9A.
At the foot of Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus mountains lies a top-class bouldering area. Who Djan Tugan was, raves in the highest tones - the potential is huge. Djan Tugan first came under the spotlight of western climbing media in the summer of 2020 when Alexey Rubtsov visited the area and opened several dozen lines up to 8B+, including the Highball Bonanza.
Low Priora is followed by a backflip sit
In addition to Rubtsov, Vadim Timonov was also active in the area. In autumn 2020, the latter announced the first ascent of the most difficult boulder in Russia to date, Low priora (8C/+). Motivated by the beauty of the area and the ingenious boulder lines, Timonov was drawn to the area again and again.
Video: Vadim Timonov's first trip to the bouldering area Djan Tugan
Reach for slash grade 8C+/9A out of caution
One of the reasons Timonov kept traveling to Djan Tugan was a line not yet walked. The Russian invested countless days in finding the right body position that made the moves in the boulder possible at all - let alone stringing together the sequences. About a week ago the puzzle came together and Timonov opened the most difficult boulder in Russia and one of the most difficult boulder lines in the world.
«I thought about the grade of the boulder for a long time. I first climbed the boulder more than a week ago. I only chose the slash grade because I have respect for reaching for the highest grade."
Vadim Timonov
He makes the evaluation proposal based on his experience, he relies on the evaluation of boulder lines that he climbed in the well-known areas of the world. And he has some of these lines in his ticklist, such as Dreamtime (8C), The Kingdom (8B+) in Ticino, The Finnish Line or Spray of Light (both 8C) in South Africa, to name just a few.
If the grade of the boulder backflip sit is confirmed, the boulder belongs to the tip of the iceberg when it comes to boulder grades.
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Credits: Cover picture Stepan Chaporov