Leo Cea sent Tecnoking (9a) in Las chilcas at age 11 and three months, the youngest ever to have reached 9a. The next month he did La Nueva Yera (9a) at the same crag.

How did you start climbing and what are your first great memories?
Since I was a kid I liked to make mountains out of things and climb them. I also liked to climb trees and rocks near my house and in the places we visited with my family. When I was 8 years old, I started going to “Las Chilcas” accompanying my dad who was going climbing with his friend. That's when I started to climb Top Rope and I liked it more and more. I remember very well that I really liked going to Las Chilcas to play climbing rocks and hanging out in a cave in the “El Cubo” sector. There we would hang out with my dad and friends while we ate what we had brought for the day.

How does a normal climbing week look like?
I climb 6 times a week. Of those, 2-3 times a week we go to the rock, 2-3 sessions a week at the climbing gym where I go with my trainer, and another couple of sessions on the wall at my house.

What is it you like most about climbing?
My favorite thing to do is to climb a lot and be on the rock. I love looking for hard routes, working on them, and I really enjoy the feeling of connecting sequences. I like exploring new climbing areas and camping.

How many sessions did the 9a's take and how do you project such hard routes?
For “Tecnoking” I did 26 attempts before sending it, divided into 11 sessions. “La Nueva Yera” was 10 attempts divided into 6 sessions. I chose the new projects by looking for 8b+ routes or one that looked good. When I try it, I try it as much as possible until I know all the moves. After that, I take a rest day before the sending day.

Are you sometimes afraid of trying long hard routes?
No, because I'm not afraid of the height and I'm also very confident of the equipment. I'm confident that I'm using it well and that it is very strong.

What about onsight climbing?
I really like doing onsight climbing. I've already climbed almost everything in “Las Chilcas” so there's not much for me to climb onsight there anymore. But I love going to new sectors and try out new routes.

What are the routes and experiences you like the most?
The routes I have liked the most are Tecnoking, Migrand Balam and Puro Contacto. I also really liked when my dad took my best friend and me camping at Las Chilcas.

What is your next dream when it comes to routes or travel?
Margalef. I dream of climbing there and trying new routes there. I would love to climb “La Era Vella” and “Victimas Perez”.

Nathan Phillips, who the last year has sent his two first 8C’s, has completed Beautiful Mind (8C) in Peak District.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Really psyched to climb this one as it’s probably the hardest boulder I’ve finished. It climbs the start section of Trance Trance (8C) which I climbed back in June. This section is maybe hard 8A/V11 then 2 or 3 new moves of around 7C/V9 to link into all the hard climbing of Dandelion Mind 8B+/V14 which I climbed about 8 years ago.

It took me 14 sessions since climbing Trance to complete it. About twice as many as Trance took. I started off re-learning the moves on Dandelion Mind as it had been years since I’d climbed it, then as the sessions went on it was just about making bigger and bigger links until eventually getting it done before the end of the limestone season.

What is coming up next?
I’m heading back to Switzerland in November to try to finish a 6 year project.

Which project is it and how many sessions have you put in?
The sit project to Fake Pamplemousse (8A) in Brione. I honestly have no idea… in the hundreds.

How will you prepare for your next trip and how close have you come?
I have a replica to train on and I’m doing very specific conditioning exercises. I’ve climbed it in 2 overlapping halves but haven’t got into the stand. I’ve done the stand 100’s of times so I’m reasonably confident I’ll do it when I get into it. All the difficulty is getting to the stand. 2 hard hand moves and a hard foot move.