Frédéric Nicole, more commonly known as Fred Nicole, is a Swiss professional climber born in 1970 in Vevey. Fred Nicole began climbing at the age of 13, with his brother François Nicole, and three years later, in 1986, he succeeded in the first repetition of the route Le Toit d'Auguste (his brother did the 2nd repetition shortly after). This route, opened by the French climber Patrick Berhault near Nice, had been tried by many climbers, without success so far. Fred then offered a rating of 8b+, the highest level of difficulty at that time.
At the end of the 1980s, Fred discovered the climbing site of Saint-Loup in Switzerland. In 1987, he managed the first ascent of Anaïs and Cannabis there, the second route rated 8c after Wall Street, opened a few months earlier by Wolfgang Güllich in Frankenjura. From the beginning of the 1990s, Fred Nicole climbed a large number of blocks rated 8A and 8A+. In 1993, he made the first ascent of Bain de Sang (9a), the third route in the ninth degree after Action Directe (9a) by Wolfgang Güllich in 1991 and Om (9a) by Alexander Huber in 1992. Nevertheless, this rating will be challenged several times by its repeaters, in particular Iker Pou, considering that Bain de Sang is "easier" than Action Directe and Dave Graham, who succeeded in his ascent in just three attempts. With this achievement in the ninth degree, Fred becomes one of the few climbers to practice climbing at the highest grade both in bouldering and in cliff. In 1996, he discovered the sites of Fontainebleau and Hueco Tanks (USA), where he carried out numerous repetitions of blocks rated from 8A to 8B. He also made the first ascent of La Pierre Philosophale (8B) in Fontainebleau and The Crown of Aragorn (8B) in Hueco. But it is again in Branson that he stands out, with the first ascent of Radja, which becomes the first boulder in the world rated 8B+.
In 1997, he traveled to South Africa in the Rocklands area. He made many first ascents of bouldering between 8A and 8B such as Leopard Cave (8A+)13 and Black Eagle (8B). Two years later, he made a second trip there and successfully completed Armed Response (8B), Oral Office (8B) and Desperado (8A+), a series of blocks opened by Klem Lostok. In 2000, he made the first ascent of Dreamtime in Cresciano in Switzerland. In 2006, Fred Nicole reached a higher level by performing the opening of Terremer originally rated 8C+, but downgraded to 8C by his second coach, Paul Robinson in 2008. Believing that the difficulty rating is very subjective, Fred Nicole often announces his openings with a fork. According to him, this estimate is more an indication of the difficulty than an absolute truth. In the following years, he made many openings of blocks and routes of very high level without giving precise quotations. He notably made Entlinge (8B+/8C), L'isola che non c'è (9A) and Boa (about 8C). In 2000, back in Switzerland, Fred tackled an overhanging boulder at Cresciano, working an aesthetic line for a season before making an ascent in October 2000. He named it Dreamtime and awarded it the grade 8C , making it the first rock to reach this level. In March 2015, at the age of 45, Nicole made the first ascent of Azark 8C.
