Chris Sharma on First Ascent of Golpe De Estado: ‘Possibly The Hardest Thing I Have Ever Done On A Rope’

December 18, 2008

It seems Chris Sharma has managed to make the FA of Golpe de estado in the El Pati-sector of Siurana. The route is a direct version of Estado critico and is made up of one 9a part, directly followed by an 8c+ part, without any rest. Chris was a bit hesitant about the grade, but in the end he decided it was most probably 9b.

This is coming in from UKClimbing.com. It looks like Chris Sharma has finally attained the first ascent of Golpe De Estado. Sharma has been working this project for some time and considers it to be the hardest route he has ever attempted. That is saying enough coming from Chris Sharma.

A few hours after UKClimbing posted the news, BigUp productions emailed them with a link to a free video of Chris working the route. The video is quite amazing and certainly attests to how hard this route is. On more than a few occasions, Chris is forced to hang by his fingers in order to grasp a better hold. As a rock climber, you are taught to keep at least three points on the rock at all times. The only way to get to the top of Golpe De Estado is by breaking a few of these long-taught rules. We suggest, unless you are Chris Sharma, that you don’t try this at home.

The BigUp productions video is part of the upcoming Dossage V video and was released for free just to show people how tough this route is. They figured that there would be people who questioned the difficulty, but by looking at it, I don’t think there is much question about it. I can’t wait to get the full report!

By the way, Climbing Narcissist needs to be credited for bring this great video to my attention.

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