PART 1

Let’s start with your ascent of Hotel Supramonte. It was your best publicized ascent last year. In fact you managed to do one of the best female ascents of long sport routes in the world. When did you discover Hotel Supramonte and choose it as your climbing aim?
I can say that I fell in love with this route from the first sight, when I first saw an article and photos in one of climbing magazines. It was when Pietro del Pra did it. I liked the yellow and orange colours of the rock, collonettes, and it stayed in my mind since then. But with all the competition I didn't find time to go. At the end of 2003 I decided to give up competitions for half a year and then I said to myself that I must take a look at this route. With so many hard graded pitches I was not sure if I was able to climb it. And I was a bit pessimistic also because I had heard that the cruxes of both 8b pitches had open pockets, which were the holds I really didn't hold well due to very long fingers. But I like challenges… I planned to go in May, but friends from Sardinia informed me that the route was very wet… So I had to be patient and decided to go in September. With a perfect climbing partner, Marko Lukič, who is a very experienced big-wall climber.

You prepared to climb Hotel Supramonte by climbing a five-pitch route in Osp – Devilish Robert 8b. How do you remember this climb?
This is a special route! It's not bolted, except the belays. And the pitons are very old. At first I was really uneasy, I was afraid to fall. For the final ascent I prepared everything so that I could be concentrated only on climbing. The day before, I had tied many pitons together with slings, so they had to hold. The 8b pitch was one of the hardest 8b I climbed last year… a strange crack, with bad footholds and some holds that were a bit loose.

Hotel Supramonte is famous for being very steep and exposed – what impression did it make on you? There are some runouts on the route. Did you find it psychologically demanding?
 I will always remember the moment I came from behind a corner and saw the wall for the first time. "WAW!!" A really amazing gorge with overhanging, colourful walls. But when climbing I didn't feel the overhanging so much. It was great to hang on belays with nothing but the air beneath! I like exposure. The route is also well equipped, so I was never afraid. Maybe just on the last 3 pitches, where it wouldn't be good to fall because of very sharp rock. But I had had good training for this kind of climbing in Paklenica (CRO). For me the route was psychologically demanding not because of the exposure or long run outs, but because of many hard pitches following one another, where you must stay 100% concentrated. On the day I did the route I was really nervous on the 1st and 2nd pitch. It would have been bad for my motivation to fall before the crux pitches. But after that the day was like a dream; I did all the pitches in the 1st attempt!