If Pokojec was University, its final exam would be the route named Chuck Norris, and Igor Čorko would be the profesor. After many years and huge amounts of effort I finally passed all the exams Pokojec had to offer, including Chuck Norris. Can I apply now to become assistant of Prof. Čorko, instead of his pupil? 🙂

Back in 2009 when Igor Čorko did the first ascent of Chuck Norris, it was yet another route on Pokojec, and it didn’t receive much attention. He didn’t do himself a favour by grading it 8a+. With time, however, it became evident that this route is something special. Special in a way that it is bloody hard. Much much harder than Čorko has initially suggested. His effort back then was much more impressive than the modest grade he gave the route may suggest.

Years have passed and the route hasn’t seen a repeat. Few people have actually tried it, I can name maybe one or two besides myself. There is not many fans of relentless mono pulling out there, so the queues were not forming under the route. When I first tried it, I got spanked big time. There is no tricks on this route, just plain hard moves. Mostly on monos, and one campus move from crimp to crimp with desperately bad foothold. After few seasons (not days!) of trying it, I finally did all the moves. However, linking the whole thing seemed light years away. I had serious doubts whether I will ever be strong enough to do Chuck.

Fast forward few more years of countless fingerboard and campus sessions and monos on Chuck started to feel comfortable rather than tendon breaking hell. This year I realised that I’m ready to do the route. This realisation was probably more satisfying than actually doing the route. Chuck Norris was my measuring stick for years. Each year I would evaluate my progress as a climber on it. Getting confirmation that all the hard training is paying off is what really matters, climbing the route was just a cherry on the top. Actually, I would not mind few more seasons with Chuck.

So, how hard it really is? I will stick my neck out and say 8b+. It is harder than its neighbour Kill Bill by a good margin, so adding a plus to Bill’s grade seems logical. But I really don’t have any other similar route to compare with. Well, it’s time to go to Frankenjura to calibrate our Pokojec grading scale 🙂

While we are at Pokojec, I have to mention my brother Perica who recently climbed the classic Maskirni keks (7c).  Doing Maskirni is nothing new to him, but his latest ascent was the most impressive. First time he did it with 60kg, second with 70kg, and now with 80kg. I hope he will not go for 90kg ascent 🙂

Fun fact. Did you know that Chuck Norris is also a climber? He climbed Mount Everest twice. First time it took him 15 minutes, 14 of which he spend building a snowman at the top. The second time, he climbed it by accident, while sleepwalking.

A picture is worth thousand words, while a picture of Chuck Norris is worth two thousand words, thus I shall stop writing and let you enjoy the photos, as always, taken by Luka Tambača.