Maria Davies Sandbu

Maria Davies Sandbu has had an extreme progress since 2009 when she did her first 7A and were among the last in three European Youth Cups. Last summer she did three 8A's and in the last Lead WC she was #17. Two weeks ago she did her first 8c, Fish Eye in Oliana and she is #2 in the 8a Combined world ranking game after Sasha Digiulian. She is as quick doing interviews, seconds after the follow up questions were sent, through Facebook, you can see the icon that the answer is on it's way.

Fish Eye, 8c in Oliana. (c) Henning Wang

Fish Eye, 8c in Oliana. (c) Henning Wang

Ruta del sol, 8b in Santa Linya. (c) Henning Wang

Bouldering in Rocklands

#17 at Imst World Cup

Please give a short presentation on How you started climbing?, How can you explain your fast progress? And what is your ambition for 2012?
I first tried climbing when I was 13 years old, but it was not until I was 15 that I started to climb more regularly and do specific training for climbing. The first competition I participated in was the Norwegian championship in 2007. I took 1st place in the junior female category. This really motivated me to continue to train and commit to climbing.
 
Still it was not until 2010 that I really noticed a big improvement in my climbing. Before that my focus had been on just having fun and to enjoy climbing, but now I really wanted to reach a new level. I wanted to do well in the international competitions and climb hard routes and boulders outside. My training became more serious and structured.

That year (2010) I had a great season. I climbed my first 8a and 8a+ routes, did my first 8A boulder and I placed 8th in the junior World Championship. Before that I had barely climbed a 7c+ route, 7A boulder and I was usually in the bottom half of the competition results. After this season I have continued to have a gradual improvement and I am psyched to continue training and push my limits in 2012!

When I train I do both bouldering/ power training and endurance training. Switching my focus between bouldering/power and endurance I usually become in a better shape in both bouldering and climbing. When I train power I do hard boulderproblems, usually at my limit and harder. I usually climb with guys who are a lot stronger than me, so this forces me to try hard boulders that I often cannot do. But I still try to push myself on these boulders even if I can only do half of the moves.

During a bouldersession I often try a couple of hard boulders and a couple of boulders that I can make. I usually also do some strength training after bouldering (pullups, lockofs, double-dynos etc.) I also do some core and weight training in a gym. If my focus at the moment is bouldering I do some sessions on a campusboard.

When I train endurance I usually do circuits. We don't have a good climbing wall in my hometown so all my endurance training is done in a bouldering gym. I do both long circuits (about 70 moves) and short circuits (30-40 moves). I also do intervals on the wall where I just climb on the bouldering wall for 5 - 10 minutes, then have a break and do 5 - 10 more minutes and so on.

I usually end my endurance session when I cannot climb the same hard moves as in the beginning of the session any longer. I always try to push myself as hard as I can and never give up! Someone once told me that it is when you feel as though you are about to fall of the wall, and you are still able to push your self a last couple of moves you really achieve something with your training. Therefore I try to do this every time I train and really commit in every try.

This summer I am going to Rocklands (again), so this spring I will be doing a lot of boulder and power training. I also want to be able to climb different styles and varied boulders so I am going to train on my weaknesses and hopefully become a more complete climber.

After the summer I will compete in the World Championships in Paris and also do some World Cups. I also want to climb more rope, so hopefully I will get a chance to travel in Europe and do some rope climbing during the fall. I also want to try some of the new routes in Flatanger, which is close to my hometown. The cave is amazing and there are lots of hard and challenging projects to find there!


You are from Trondheim, midways up in Norway where it is cold, dark, rainy and there is no proper climbing gym. How is it possible to make fast progress based on such poor conditions?
As long as you challenge yourself  in new ways and continues to have fun I think constant progress is possible. I think the best endurance training are done while bouldering so it is not a big problem that we do not have a big indoor wall. Dimitry Sharafutdino is world champion even if his training wall is very small. I think the most important thing is motivation and to train hard and even.

Who has been your trainer?
My boyfriend Martin Mobråten is the one who has had most influence on my climbing. Since last year Stian Christoffersson is my national coach and he helps with training planning etc.

What are your strongest point?
I think crimping. I am pretty strong in my fingers and have a good static strength. My weakest point are dynamic moves in between sloopers.