Fred Rouhling

Fred Rouhling (born January 24, 1970) is a French rock climber, famed for his 1995 proposal of the grade 9b/5.15b for his unrepeated climb Akira. (See Realization, or rather Biographie.) Other notable climbs of his include:

• Hugh (9a) in Eaux-Claires, France, first ascent (FA) in 1993.
• L'autre côté du ciel, or The Other Side of the Sky, (9a) in Eaux-Claires, France, FA in 1997.
• In 2002, repeated Bain de Sang (9a, FA by Fred Nicole) in Saint Loup, Switzerland.
• Mandallaz Drive (9a/5.14d) at d’Allonzier la Caille, near Haute-Savoie, south of Geneva, FA in 2004.
• In 2007, FA of Salamandre 9a/b at Saint-Pierre en Faucigny.

Problems

Although the controversy about his route Akira seems to have settled down with Climbing magazine and the popular website 8a.nu supporting his claim in the recent past, many of his boulder first ascents, like Soumission (V14), were destroyed for unknown reasons. Even boulder problems of some of his friends, like the test piece of Romain Desgranges Kaiser Sauzé with the breaking grade of 8C+, were destroyed, which put the bouldering community in stress and discussions about the existence and persistence of the boulder problems.

External links

• 2004 article about Rouhling and Akira (by Pete Ward photos by Tim Kemple)
• Pictures of Akira, Hugh, and L'autre côté du ciel
• Salamandre FA article in planetmountain
• Article in 8a.nu about the destroyed Boulder of Romain