Tough Enough 8b+

Tough Enough is a 380 meter, 10 pitch granite line on the Karambony formation in the Tsaranoro Massif of southern Madagascar, one of the harder multi-pitch free climbs established on that wall. Five of its pitches go at 8b (5.13d) or harder, with the easiest pitch at 7b+ (5.12c), and the climbing is extremely thin face work on sparsely bolted granite, protected far more sparingly than most sport routes at the grade. The wall sits well outside any road access, so an ascent means an expedition approach and days of living beneath the route, not a single day out from a car.

History

A German team put up the original line in 2005. Several teams attempted a free link-up in the years that followed, and in June 2008 French climbers Arnaud Petit, Stephanie Bodet, Sylvain Millet and Laurent Triay made the first free ascent of the route. The remote setting and the thin, technical nature of the hardest pitches made the free ascent a significant result for hard face climbing on Madagascar's granite, distinct from the crack and compression climbing more typical of other big-wall granite areas, and it required repeated work on individual pitches before the team could link the full 380 meters free.

On film

Tough Enough: Big Wall Climbing in Madagascar (2008) documents the French team, Arnaud Petit, Steph Bodet and Sylvain Millet, working and completing the first free ascent, filmed by their fourth team member, Laurent Triay. The film follows the logistics of living beneath the wall and repeatedly working the hardest pitches to link the full route free.