Vertical-Life
11 October 2010
Carlo Traversi interview
A Performing Humble Climbing Philosopher
Carlo Traversi has had an amazing progress in 2010 and in May he made the headlines when he repeated Jade and gave it a personal grade of 8B+.
This year he has done 10 boulders 8B and harder and just the first week in Magic he did a dozen 8A and harder. Including several personal gradings he is #6 in the 8a ranking game.
When and how did you start climbing?
I started climbing in 2002. A good friend of mine took me to the local climbing gym and I was immediately hooked. At the time I was involved in both team sports and extreme sports, and rock climbing served as a sort of bridge between the two realms. Slightly extreme, yet still very athletic. I was obsessed with climbing from day
What is your plan for this autumn?
I am currently living in Ticino, Switzerland and I will be living here until early December. It has been a dream of mine for years to climb on the boulders in this area. I am psyched to repeat all the classics and hopefully add a few of my own. There is also a media aspect to this Swiss Tour. The American climbing media is not saturated with enough world bouldering content and I hope to provide a little insight into Swiss bouldering for the community back home. However, the sketchy internet is making that a bit difficult...
What do you think is the reason for your dramatic progress in 2010?
In my experience, life tends to follow patterns that occur in waves. Upswings and downswings. When climbing is such a large part of your life, it also follows those waves. My overall quality of life took a turn for the better early this year and it seemed to have signaled a significant upswing. Ive been experiencing unnaturally high levels of motivation and optimism since then. I began training a lot, my minor finger tweaks disappeared, and my overall mental approach changed. Its been fun.
Any interest for competitions?
I generally compete in nearly all of the major American climbing competitions. had some good results and some bad results. Being a shorter than average climber seems to make things a bit more difficult in competitions, but Im still psyched to keep progressing. Nothing a little extra strength cant fix! As far as competitions in Europe and abroad; I would be psyched to do the World Cup bouldering circuit if money and time allowed. Right now, it doesnt seem like a worthwhile expense to me. Id rather travel world wide to climb on real rock than plastic.
What motivates you?
I am motivated by both success and failure. Both wouldnt survive without the other. And in my life so far, climbing has provided me with the longest list of potential failures. Challenge brings out the best and worst in all of us, and I choose to live in those extremes.
How would you compare the scene in Europe vs USA?
Ive only been here for about 10 days and have traveled very little. I would hate to give a hasty opinion without giving the European scene a fair chance. Personally, I like it here. It seems to be much more competitive and certainly a bit more serious. Its definitely different.
Do you have any training advices?
Training is going to be different for everyone. I think the trick is to try everything until you find the things that work for you. My personal training theory is a bit odd. I never crimp. I try to pinch everything. I train with weights. I dont use a campus or system board. I eat anything and everything. I hardly ever do aerobic workouts. I mostly just climb. I like to pack a lot of climbing into a small amount of time. Most sessions in the gym involve at least 50 boulders 7B-8A+ in less than a 2 hour period. Always on the wall. Doing hard moves when youre tired.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
It doesnt matter where I am or what Im doing as long as Im challenged, motivated, happy, and surrounded by good friends.
| The trend diagram looks promising but ... more interesting is actually his thoughts about motivation etc. |
This year he has done 10 boulders 8B and harder and just the first week in Magic he did a dozen 8A and harder. Including several personal gradings he is #6 in the 8a ranking game.
|
The Never Ending Story V14 - Carlo Traversi from Carlo Traversi on Vimeo. |
I started climbing in 2002. A good friend of mine took me to the local climbing gym and I was immediately hooked. At the time I was involved in both team sports and extreme sports, and rock climbing served as a sort of bridge between the two realms. Slightly extreme, yet still very athletic. I was obsessed with climbing from day
What is your plan for this autumn?
I am currently living in Ticino, Switzerland and I will be living here until early December. It has been a dream of mine for years to climb on the boulders in this area. I am psyched to repeat all the classics and hopefully add a few of my own. There is also a media aspect to this Swiss Tour. The American climbing media is not saturated with enough world bouldering content and I hope to provide a little insight into Swiss bouldering for the community back home. However, the sketchy internet is making that a bit difficult...
What do you think is the reason for your dramatic progress in 2010?
In my experience, life tends to follow patterns that occur in waves. Upswings and downswings. When climbing is such a large part of your life, it also follows those waves. My overall quality of life took a turn for the better early this year and it seemed to have signaled a significant upswing. Ive been experiencing unnaturally high levels of motivation and optimism since then. I began training a lot, my minor finger tweaks disappeared, and my overall mental approach changed. Its been fun.
Any interest for competitions?
I generally compete in nearly all of the major American climbing competitions. had some good results and some bad results. Being a shorter than average climber seems to make things a bit more difficult in competitions, but Im still psyched to keep progressing. Nothing a little extra strength cant fix! As far as competitions in Europe and abroad; I would be psyched to do the World Cup bouldering circuit if money and time allowed. Right now, it doesnt seem like a worthwhile expense to me. Id rather travel world wide to climb on real rock than plastic.
What motivates you?
I am motivated by both success and failure. Both wouldnt survive without the other. And in my life so far, climbing has provided me with the longest list of potential failures. Challenge brings out the best and worst in all of us, and I choose to live in those extremes.
How would you compare the scene in Europe vs USA?
Ive only been here for about 10 days and have traveled very little. I would hate to give a hasty opinion without giving the European scene a fair chance. Personally, I like it here. It seems to be much more competitive and certainly a bit more serious. Its definitely different.
Do you have any training advices?
Training is going to be different for everyone. I think the trick is to try everything until you find the things that work for you. My personal training theory is a bit odd. I never crimp. I try to pinch everything. I train with weights. I dont use a campus or system board. I eat anything and everything. I hardly ever do aerobic workouts. I mostly just climb. I like to pack a lot of climbing into a small amount of time. Most sessions in the gym involve at least 50 boulders 7B-8A+ in less than a 2 hour period. Always on the wall. Doing hard moves when youre tired.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
It doesnt matter where I am or what Im doing as long as Im challenged, motivated, happy, and surrounded by good friends.
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