Action Directe

Grade: 9a (5.14d)
Style: Sport
Where: Waldkopf, Frankenjura, Germany
First ascent: Wolfgang Güllich, 14 September 1991

Action Directe is a short, 45-degree limestone prow on the Waldkopf in Germany’s Frankenjura. Wolfgang Güllich climbed it in September 1991, and it became the world’s first route to settle at 9a. It is about 15 m long with five bolts, and the hard part is some 10 m of one- and two-finger pockets above a ledge, starting with a jump.

History

Milan Sykora bolted the line, and Güllich added the direct start. He made the first ascent on 14 September 1991 after 11 days of attempts. He graded it UIAA XI, which later became 9a.

Alexander Adler made the second ascent in 1995. Repeats stayed rare for years, and the grade has held. Mélissa Le Nevé made the first ascent by a woman in May 2020. Nigel Armino climbed it on 26 October 2026.

The climb

Section	What it is
The entry	About 3 m of easy climbing to a ledge, which nobody counts
The jump	From a shallow mono to a two-finger pocket, the feet swinging out
The pockets	Lock-offs on small pockets, with a longer move to a second mono
The upper wall	A crimp, side holds and pinches, a crossover and a side undercling
The exit	A last jump to a crimp where the overhang ends

Güllich used 16 moves and took about 70 seconds. Most climbers since move right after the second move and use 11 to 13. Accounts of the move count range from 11 to about 20, depending on the sequence and on whether the entry is counted.

The beta

This is the shorter sequence most climbers use today, put together from written accounts of several ascents. The file is a drawing: the holds are placed from those descriptions and are not measured from the rock. The feet, and which hand takes each pocket after the jump, are a best guess.

The start. Stand on the ledge under the prow. The left hand reaches up to a sharp, shallow mono, often taken with the ring finger, and the right hand takes a poor pinch.
The jump. Set the right foot, launch off the mono and stick a good two-finger pocket with the right hand. The feet cut loose and swing out. Kilian Fischhuber put the jump at nearly 2 m.
The pockets. Feet back on, then lock-offs on small pockets, left hand and right. A longer move left leads to a second mono that is easy to miss. There are few footholds, so the feet mostly use the pockets the hands have left.
The upper wall. The right hand goes to a crimp, the left to a side hold and the right to a two-finger pocket. The left hand crosses over, the right unwinds to a crimp, and the left takes a side undercling.
The exit. From the undercling, one last jump to a crimp at the lip that is tricky to hit. Easy ground leads to the anchor.

Open it in the app

Open it in the web app with the button below, or download the file and import it into Broken Crimp. Either way, step through the beta move by move and slow it down.

Open it in the web app Download the .beta file

Sources

An unofficial reconstruction, put together from the public sources above. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the climbers or sources named, and it is no substitute for your own judgement on the rock. See the Terms of Use.