Six years after her first – and supposedly last – visit, Katherine Choong successfully completed the redpoint ascent of "Yeah Man" (8b+) on the north face of the Grand Pfad on July 27th. The Swiss climber completed the nine pitches in one day, leading all of them in the eighth grade.
"Yeah Man" is one of the hardest and most beautiful multi-pitch routes in Switzerland. Nine pitches, around 350 meters of solid limestone in the Gastlosen mountains in Fribourg, with four pitches in the eighth grade, including an 8b+ crux pitch. Anyone wanting to send the route must conserve their energy in the lower pitches and still deliver in the upper sections. Kathrine Choong managed to do just that.
“I was convinced I would never come back”
The Swiss climber first attempted the route in 2020. She left the wall with a clear opinion. "The four pitches in the eighth grade felt impossible. The moves were simply too far apart for me, with no alternative," said Choong, who is 158 centimeters tall.
Nevertheless, the line wouldn't let her go. In 2025, she returned to the wall with Cédric Lachat – who had climbed Yeah Man in 2019 as part of "Swissway to Heaven" – to find a beta that suited her range. They tried everything imaginable, especially on the 8a slab. The moves still didn't work. But something had shifted: "For the first time, it no longer felt impossible, but simply incredibly difficult."
Two weeks, many doubts
In early June 2026, Choong stayed in the Gastlosen mountains for two weeks. Finding her own beta took a long time, and a successful ascent was still out of the question. "I started to doubt myself—that feeling of being an imposter that sometimes comes to mind. I wondered why, as a 'professional athlete,' I was working so hard and couldn't climb the route in two intense weeks."
Then came the return to everyday life, to work – and on weekends, weather permitting, back to the wall.
Rain and fog for the ascent
July 27th didn't feel like the day it was meant to be. Choong struggled from the very first pitches. Then light rain and fog rolled in, and the 8a slab on the sixth pitch became as smooth as glass. She fell there three times – in a spot where she had never fallen before. On her fourth attempt, she succeeded.
At the start of the 8b+ route on the eighth pitch, she was convinced it was all over. Her climbing partner, Jim Zimmermann, launched a powerful attempt and fell just below the anchor. "I was so impressed by Jim's effort that I couldn't just give up, even though I was tired," Choong writes. "Move by move, I fought on, shaking every hold, my arms screaming at me to let go—but my mind refused."
On the very last pitch, where she had fallen a week earlier, she heard three friends cheering her on from below. "That gave me the strength to keep going. And somehow I made it to the top." Choong led all the pitches in the eighth grade, while the pair shared the remaining pitches.
To the route
“Yeah Man” was bolted in 1999 by mountain guides François Studemann and Guy Scherrer on the north face of the Grand Pfad in the Gastlosen range. The individual pitches were free climbed in 2004 by Josune Bereziartu and Rikar Otegi, and the first one-day redpoint ascent was achieved in 2010 by Giovanni Quirici, who tragically died on the Eiger in 2011. Subsequent ascents were made by, among others, Cédric Lachat (2019), Siebe Vanhee (2019), Lukas Sager (2021), and Nina Caprez (2023).
Rope lengths: 7a+, 7b+, 7b+, 7c, 8a+, 8a, 8a, 8b+, 7a
The Swiss big wall queen
Katherine Choong (34) is the first and so far only Swiss woman to have climbed a 9a: in 2018 with "Cabane au Canada" in Rawyl, followed in 2019 by "Jungfraumarathon" in Gimmelwald. After 15 years on the Swiss national team – she became Youth World Champion in 2009 – she retired from competition at the end of 2021 to focus entirely on rock climbing. Since then, she has made a name for herself primarily on long routes: in 2024, she achieved the first female ascent of "Zahir" (8b+, 300 m) on the Wendenstöcke, and in 2025, that of "Piz Dal Nas" (8b, 500 m) on the Titlis north face.
You might be interested in:
- "Ravage": Katherine Choong achieves the first female ascent of the world's first 8c
- Katherine Choong is the first woman to climb the Wenden route Zahir (8b+, 300m)
- Video: That's behind Katherine Choong's inspection of Jungfraumarathon (9a)
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Credits: Cover photo: Rémi Degenne (@rem.dgn)