Nolwen Berthier on-sights Omaha Beach (5.14a/F8b+)
- Thursday 17th November 2022
Climbing on Patagonia’s athlete meet in The Red River, French climber Nolwen Berthier has made the rare female on-sight of the classic Bill Ramsey’s pumpfest in the Madness Cave at the Motherlode.
Originally climbed by Bill Ramsey at 5.13d/F8b, Omaha Beach was first on-sighted by Katie Brown back in 1999. Since then it has lost holds and upped to 5.14a/F8b+. In 2011 Sasha Di’ Gigiulian became the first American female climber to on-sight 5.14a/F8b+ when she clipped the chains on Omaha Beach. In October last year, 14 year-old Anastasia Sanders (known as Annie) hit the headlines having flashed the route. Click here for our previous report on her ascent.
Now, it’s the Frenchwomen turn to hit the news. Previously, Nolwen Berthier has redpointed Super Crackinette (F9a+) at St Leger. Famously, Adam Ondra became the first climber in the world to flash F9a+ when he did this in February 2018. Remarkably, Berthier hadn’t climbed F9a when she redpointed Super Crackinette but, as she explained in an interview with her in the St Leger guidebook, she was attracted to that route given it was local to her and wasn’t a morpho route.
Being interviewed by Fanatic Climbing (here) Berthier outlines how her trip The Red nearly didn’t happen became of her environmental concerns, “Having not taken a long-haul flight for more than 10 years, I hesitated for a long time to take part in this event, because of the enormous environmental impact that it represents (the carbon footprint of this round-trip flight is approximately 2t of CO2/pers, which represents almost all of the annual emissions to which a French person should limit themselves to meet the objectives to limit global warming to +2°C in 2100...). A real internal dilemma then set in. On the one hand the opportunity that this represents, on the other the environmental responsibility in the face of the climate emergency. Life is made of choices. Not always very comfortable. I finally decided to schedule a 3-week trip to RRG.”
Having made the trans-Atlantic crossing to visit The Red it was the perfect opportunity for Berthier to polish her on-sighting skills, something which, as she explained to Fanatic, she rarely does, “A great opportunity to develop your on-sight qualities, which I very rarely do... (until now, my hardest on-sight was 8a!) With feet everywhere and thousands of crimps, I have to admit that the climbing i RRG suits me well. The Motherload sector and its "Madness Cave" is one of the longest and steepest in the valley, which reminded me of my beginnings in climbing and the hours of training spent in the 45° overhang of M'Roc (a gym in France).”
Berthier didn’t have any specific routes in mind to try at The Red but explains how her on-sight of Omaha Beach came about, “On my first visit, I did my first 8a+ on sight: "The Madness"! And its left neighbour "Omaha Beach" was calling me. Returning a few days later, I decided to go for a discovery run. Initially going for a reccie, a little voice deep inside started telling me "wouldn't it be shame not to try the on sight... opportunities like this, there aren't every day". So not a lot of pressure for this go, just the desire for a good fight at the start of the day... So here I am, off in this big overhang, playing with my heels and biceps to make my way between all those crimps! The lactic acid rises more and more, but the effort is split up by good rests, which makes it possible to anticipate the management of the bouldery sections. I consciously apply the trip's golden rule, 'move fast & keep on moving'! Then I get into the upper part, (a little) less steep, the methods become a bit harder to work out, but after one or two fruitless attempts, I end up finding the solution. Here I am in the last section, under the chains, where the crimps get a lot generous, it looks like the game is over! A totally unexpected tick, and no less delightful!”
By on-sighting Omaha Beach Berthier has added her name to the handful of female climbers to have climbed F8b+ with no prior information. Whilst it seems a remarkable step-up in difficulty from what Bertier has on-sighted before, she’s clearly got bags of endurance in reserve something which she will have having climbed a lot at places such as St Leger where not only are the routes typically very long and super steep but the grades are especially stern. Climbing at the Motherlode must have been something of a ‘busman’s holiday’ for Berthier!