A few days after 13-year-old Illya Bakhmet-Smolensky climbed the Chromosome X route, the Chromosome X route will be repeated again at Charmey. The Bernese Alexander Rohr scores the route and devalues it. If future repetitions confirm the devaluation, Illya will lose the title of the youngest 9a climber in the world.
Reported just five days ago LACRUX and numerous international media about the historical ascent of the route Chromosome X by Illya Bakhmet-Smolensky, As young as Illya, no one climbed a 9a before.
Alex Rohr questions the difficulty level
The climbing area Charmey with its exposure is a popular winter climbing area. The current low temperatures also attracted the multiple 9a climber Alexander tube in the Friborg sport climbing area. After only five attempts spread over two days, he succeeded in repeating the Pirmin Bertle first arrived route Chromosomes X, Accordingly, Alexander's opinion on the difficulty level is clear:
"Chromosome X is never a 9a"
In an interview with LACRUX, Alex explains that the route can be climbed very differently. On the first ascent, Pirmin Bertle climbed a passage that was not so logical for him. Illya climbed the route differently again and he himself then climbed the route more or less in the middle of the other two. "If a route can be climbed in such different ways, then ultimately the simplest version counts and, in my opinion, it is at most 8c +," said Alex on the phone.
Again a route devalued by Pirmin Bertle in Charmey
The devaluation of the route chromosomes X by Alexander tube is not just explosive because it has the record of Illya in question. She has another dimension. Already in spring, a route was devalued by Pirmin Bertle. At that time it was none other than Adam Ondra, after a brief tour of the route meoise proposed a devaluation of 9b on 9a +. At the time, this was met with great irritation by Pirmin Bertle (LACRUX reported). On the recent devaluation by Alexander Rohr, Pirmin Bertle says: “As far as I have read, Alex did not make the original variant either, which is like leaving out the crux and of course means a lower climbing difficulty. I would certainly rate chromosome X on my variant more 8c + today. "
Why did Illya choose an unconfirmed 9a for his record attempt?
On arriving in Switzerland, Illya wrote on instagram that he was looking forward to climbing a new level of difficulty for him. Meant was an 9a. The background to Meoise and the fact that Chromosome X was never repeated before Illya raises the question why the young Ukrainian did not select a recognized 9a for his record attempt, such as Action Directe in Frankenjura. This question unfortunately remains unanswered at this point. Already a general request for an interview on the original ascent was unanswered.
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Credits: picture Alexander Rohr on the commission of Chromosome Y