American Gangster

Yesterday, Daniel Woods did the FA of two of the best hard lines in the Zillertal, Austria. The lines are located in the Sundergrund Area and the first one is a steep 45° overhanging problem that he named "American Gangster" and graded 8B+. Its the straigth exit to the existing problem "Camorra" 8A+ that Korni and I opened a bit more than a year ago, the full line of the block. The standing start of the new line is a two-mover about 8A+ itself. It was amazing to watch and spot him fighting through the problem! But not enough, there was still the unclimbed sit start of a problem called "Torrero" that i opened a couple of years ago, just 20 meters up the hill... After Martin figured out some really nice beta and unluckily fell really close to the top, Daniel managed to sneak one in once more and topped it out, creating "Slapshot", an absolutly classy line with cool moves on smooth rock. Martin soon followed, finished off the job and snabbed the second ascent minutes later. Nice work! It was really inspiring to see these two lines being done, I found them about more than 4 years ago, but just never had the motivation to try them properly. I can't wait to go back up there...

Thats one cool thing about bouldering, if a motivated crew gets psyched, beta will be found and suddenly almost impossible looking things become reality!!

I've put some shots of "American Gangster" in the Bouldering Gallery. Enjoy!

Emi