Mirko Caballero

(c) Christiane Caballero

Last Dance 7C, Bishop (c) Matt Moore

US Bouldering Champs 2011(c) Bob Lockhart

Working Petit Tom 8a+, Céüse, France (c) Aleya Caballero

Mirko Caballero (10) is the latest new wonderkid setting new standards by sending three 8A's and four 7C+' during the last two months. With the permission and help from his father, here is his first interview.

Tell us about you….
My name is Mirko Caballero, and I am 10 years old. I live in Los Gatos, California. I was born in New Hampshire, USA, but my parents are from Switzerland. I got into climbing early because my Dad, Mom, brother, and sister were all climbing. I started to climb seriously when I was 6 years old.

Are you a competitive climber?
Yes, I have been competing for almost 5 years now. Until this year I only competed in Bouldering. I finished 2^nd at the Pan-American Games 2010 in Ecuador, and 3^rd at US Nationals in 2010. I became the US National Champion in 2011. I competed in sport and speed climbing for the first time in 2011. I got 1^st place in Speed and 2^nd place in Sport. I compete in the Youth-D category (11 years old and under).

I have also been competing in gymnastics for several years, but climbing is my passion, so when I'll have to choose, I’ll focus on climbing…

You climb a lot outdoors. Do you prefer that to competition?
I love competition and I feel that competition makes me progress, but I will always prefer outdoors because it’s my true passion in climbing. I try to go climbing outside at every opportunity with my parents and my friends, Nate, Nick, Garrett, Sammy, Clara, Courtney, Natalia and Niamh. I also like meeting climbers at crags, and working out problems with them. It’s kind off easy to connect with climbers as they all ask me how old I am. I also love visiting new places, and I got to climb in Bishop, Red Rocks, Jailhouse, Céüse, Kalymnos, La Turbie, and Annot. My dream is to go to Rocklands and Rodellar!

You had a huge breakthrough in 2011. What’s in store for 2012?
2011 was just amazing for me! I sent my first V10 (7C+) in Dec 2010, and was hoping to maybe repeat a couple more in 2011. But in the last 2 months of 2011, I sent my first three V11 (8A), four more V10 (7C+), and several V9 (7C) and V8 (7B+). I also sent my first 5.13a (7c+) in Sport Climbing. So now I’m trying to figure out what my goals should be for 2012. I think I will first try to improve my sport climbing skills. I also hope I can send my first V12 (8A+), I got really close in Hueco Tanks, but I couldn’t link it before I left. I just like to climb the hardest I can, and that’s what I will try to keep doing in 2012.

How do you train?
I climb about 4 times a week. Most of my core strength and flexibility training comes from my gymnastics training also 4 times a week. My Dad has been my coach until now, and he always tells me: just climb a lot, climb hard, climb smart, and most importantly have fun doing it! That has worked great for me until now. We also work on technique and on sighting skills. For sport climbing, we did a lot of endurance, which was hard, but I got strong really fast, so that was cool. In September 2011, I joined the Zero Gravity team here in California, and we also started doing endurance and strength training.

What do you think about your 8a ranking?
Well, I know that it’s just a game, but it’s kind of fun to play… I was really excited to see that I’m now ranked in the top 20 juniors worldwide in Bouldering, especially seeing that Adam Ondra is in 1^st place… I also was really excited to see that I was able to send 20 V8 (7B+) to V11 (8A) in 2011, but then I looked at Dave Graham’s tick list, and wow… He sent 426 V11 (8A) or harder so far!!! So that was humbling… 8a helps me compare my progress to others, and makes me want to climb even harder.

You seem to focus on Bouldering. What about Sport Climbing?
I really like Bouldering, and at first I was a little afraid of heights. I finally got over it, and I really started enjoying sport climbing as well. Right now it is Bouldering season in competition so I'm focusing more on it, but after US Nationals in March, I will focus completely on Sport Climbing. I really just started in the spring of 2011, so I think I can progress a lot.

Do you have any Sponsors?
Well, I guess my only Sponsors are my parents right now, but I’m starting to look for Sponsors, so if anyone is interested, please reach out to me… ;-)