Crossing the border of the impossible

The human tower world is always seeking to break new ground. In recent history, there were the nine-tower castells in the early 1980s, the assault on the extra range in the 1990s, or the arrival of ten-tower castells and other constructions that have been produced in recent decades. In many of these castells, the phrase "That's impossible" has been uttered, but history has shown us that in quite a few cases, the barrier has been broken.

To achieve success, one must cross the threshold of taking on a new challenge. Rehearsals are a great guarantee, but it's in the arena that all the details of that castell are finally revealed. Thus, often the first attempts are not entirely successful, but they do provide a learning experience for future achievements.

If we look at the 2nd of 9 with lining and handcuffs, there is only one castle that was able to be unloaded on its first attempt: the 7th of 9 with lining by the Castellers de Vilafranca. Three others were able to do the fin: the two castles again with needle and the 9th of 9 with lining, all of them by the greens.

The untamed beast, on the 36th attempt

The castle on which the most attempts were made before being unloaded was the 2 of 8 without lining. In total, thirty-six were made before being completed by the Castellers of Vilafranca in 2010. This fact earned it the nickname untamable beast due to its difficulty.

Thus, the Greens needed thirteen attempts to complete it, while the Joves Xiquets de Valls and the Colla Vella made eighteen each before downloading it in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

The Castellers de Vilafranca and the 3de10fm

The 3 out of 10 was a castle that was achieved fairly quickly. In 1998, the people of Vilafranca carried it on the fourth occasion the construction was seen in the square, and a few weeks later, the Minyons of Terrassa unloaded it. The people of Terrassa completed it again four years later, but the Greens embarked on a fifteen-year journey to complete it. In all of them, they needed twenty-seven attempts before achieving it in 2013.

The pending challenges

Currently, we still find several castles that have yet to be reached. In total, four have been carried out: 9de9f, 2de9sm, pde9fmp, and 3de9sf. Regarding the latter, it has been taken to the square seventeen times without being completed.

Of all these, the greatest efforts are focused on the new. The Colla Vella de los Xiquets de Valls tried it for the first time in their history at the Mercadal de Reus and are expected to do so again for Santa Úrsula. Likewise, the Castellers de Vilafranca carried it again for San Félix and could have the same one for Todos los Santos.

The Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls is also in the running for unpublished castles. The good performance of the 2de8sf has raised the option of testing it on a lining at the end of this season, a construction they have never tried in their history. On the other hand, as dominators of the castells cleanThe Reds are fully considering the possibility of creating the unprecedented pillar of seven without a lining. The suspension in the third round in Reus erased any speculation about the cliff attempt that was floating in the square, but the Vallencs still have the option of going to Santa Úrsula or Vila-Rodona to lift it.