Richard Simpson Climbs Action Directe, 9a

by Mick Ryan

The UK´s Richard Simpson, 22, has repeated the late Wolfgang Gullich´s Action Directe, 9a, in Germany´s Frankenjura region.

Gullich developed the first “campus” board at a gym called The Campus Center (hence the name) in Nürnberg in 1988 with the specific intent of developing the intense finger-power and dynamics to climb what became Action Directe in 1991. Action Directe ushered in not only a personal best for Gullich but a jump in grade worldwide. It was the first ever 9a.

Simpson has shown a similar devotion in his training regime at Sheffield´s infamous School Room, a training gym for Steel City´s elite built by Gavin Ellis in 1993. The School Room´s postgraduates include Ben Moon, Jerry Moffat, and Malcom Smith, all disciples of Gullich´s campus board training. You can read about the School Room, including training articles by Richard Simpson at Moon Climbing

Simpson´s journey to Action Directe, as well as involving dedicated and focussed training involved climbing, as Ben Moon said,"the classic sport routes of the 80´s and 90´s, such as La Rose et la Vampire 8b, Le Minimum 8b+, Agincourt 8c, Wall Street 8c, Liquid Amber 8c, and Hubble 8c+."

The roll call of ascensionists for Action Directe is:

Wolfgang Gullich (1991)

Alexander Adler (1995)

Iker Pou (2000)

Dave Graham (2001)

Christian Bindhammer (2003)

Richard Simpson (2005)

Keep your eye on Ben Moon´s blog at Moon Climbing for further updates, images and video of Richard Simpson on Action Directe.

( Source: Moonclimbing.com )