First 8c in history. 20m high, West-facing. Güllich had this to say about it*: "There’s a very difficult boulder on Wallstreet. I came across it and thought it could be possible. During the winter I went training in Nuremberg, and with the help of a professor of physical education I worked on specific muscles, in particular intramuscular coordination associated with reaction speed, in order to be able to do the boulder moves."
Mélissa le Nevé did the first female ascent of the route in 2014, before doing the same on Action Directe, the first 9a in the world, in 2020, the other legendary route we owe Wolfgang Güllich (sent in 1991). The film Wall Street was released the same year, 1987, a link may be suspected, but it seems it was given because extreme lines are ‘highly traded on the route stock market’. Still, why the lack of a space between the two words? What is to ‘germanify’ the name, since Wallstrasse is a common street name over there?
Due to his premature death, Wolfgang is not able to tell us more. But Hannes Huch, the living authority on all things Frankenjura, agreed to enlighten us on the fascinating origins of the route. Wallstreet turns out to be a variation on Ira Technokratie, 8a (bolted by Erich Hunsicker), whose FA was also claimed by Güllich, in 1984. Ira veers left after the third bolt, whereas Wallstreet goes direct. A German site credits a Ernst Hunsicker with bolting the variant that interests us: could it in fact be Erich? Among what may not be common knowledge either, Wallstreet was primarily an 8b or 8b+, FAed, yet again, by Wolfgang himself. Some time later, rumour had it that someone had taken the liberty to modify some of the holds on it. No sooner had Güllich heard of it that he ran back to the crag in order to restore the route to its original glory, using concrete. But then he also decided to actually shrink some of those holds. In other words, Wallstreet is an artificial route! Wolfgang duly sent it anew, henceforth doing the FA of the same line at two different grades… Let’s note, with Hannes again, that Güllich had a habit of choosing the hardest methods. Given that the numerous climbers who ticked Wallstreet since haven’t suggested a downgrade, it is possible that Wolfgang’s beta was actually worth more. For instance, I understand that his method on AD is rather more 9a+ than 9a…