Lair Thibault, who previously has made five 9a's, out of which four FAs, has done Papichulo (9a+) in Oliana. Two days earlier he did the FA of Fake news (8c+) in Suberpène, which was his sixth 8c+ FA, only during the last 18 months. (c) William Barcelo


Can you tell us more about doing your first 9a+?
It's been four years since I started working the route without being very regular. This year I needed 3 times 3 days to do the route. A big goal was achieved with the ascent of this mythical and mentally super hard route. I felt in good shape at the end of last year and I decided to give myself the means to progress even more by asking Patxi Usubiaga to train me. After 3 months of intensive training with Patxi, I really gained strength, which is my weak point.

How come there is a three-year gap since you did your last 9a?
Indeed, it's been 3 years since I did a 9a but it's not because I was less strong. For 3 years I have done a lot of 8c+ FAs that I worked alone. I equipped and tried harder routes than 9a, I think, which I haven't realized yet. All that combined with my work as a carpenter.

What is the status of Papichulo and Oliana after the fire?
Regarding the fire in Oliana, a huge cleaning and repair work was done by a group of people. I thank them once again for this work. There are still a few lanes that have not yet been cleaned.

Loic Zehani has done the FA of Kaboul (9a+) in Orgon. The 21-year-old has previously done 60 routes 9a and harder out of which four 9b FAs. (c) Lunar Fox

”20 physical movements (around 8b+), then (after a very bad rest) a hard section of about 12 moves (around 8A+ FB). There is one move harder than the other with a very bad undercling. I fell more than 10 times to this movement! It starts with Les mollahs du mollard 2 (8c) and it's the easy version of the new exit. This is not the best rock of Orgon but the movements are amazing.

Anna Liina Laitinen, who previously has done several 8c+', has sent Esclatamasters (9a) in Perles & Canelles. The Fin did her first 8b+ in 2016 at age 26 and since then, she has pretty much been a full-time climber also having done an 8b onsight as well as an 8A+ (B) boulder.

Can you tell us more about your first 9a?
Last year after my trip to Albarracin, I wanted to come and see the Escalatamasters route, which had been on my mind for years. The route was even more amazing and better than I could have imagined, and the 1.5-week trip felt like a short tease. The route stayed on my mind and I climbed all routes in Finland and abroad keeping ”Escalatamasters” in mind. I focused on developing myself throughout the year, especially in bouldering, to gain more strength. In the fall, I returned to Spain to improve my endurance after recovering from COVID-19, but I didn’t try the route seriously and instead climbed other routes and areas as it was very rainy. However, I wanted to recall the beta for the coming spring.

In the spring, I got sick again, so I couldn’t go on the trip at the desired time, and after regaining my basic fitness, I had to finalise my shape by climbing on the route as the weather was getting warmer. I focused mainly on being more strategic than usual on 8c+ routes, as well as on focusing on flow state, stress tolerance, having enough rest and focusing more on quality, and taking care of my fingertips, as the long crux of the route has small, sharp holds. I also went to the indoor gym twice a week to maintain my strength, and I believe it helped a lot, even though it initially felt strange to climb indoors when I finally had the chance to climb outside!

I exceeded my own goal for the trip at the end of the second week when I got my first one-hang, so everything from there on was just a bonus. I believe my mindset had the most impact on climbing the route. I was happy with every attempt, and I had fun. I didn’t feel the same pressure as I had felt in previous years when climbing a difficult route. I have worked on my mental side as best I can, and having a positive attitude and friends has a great impact. It’s normal to fall even on a difficult route. On such a good route, it didn’t matter to fall because then I could climb on it again.

What's your next plan?
I’d love to go to Rawyl in May but if it’s challenging to drag my sausage dog on the ledge I might visit Ceuse or go bouldering in Swiss. I’m more motivated doing sport climbing now so I’m doing everything I can so that I could do that :). Another option would be to go to Flatanger in June. Red River Gorge in the fall will definitely happen!

Can you say something about how you train?
My training schedule is a bit of a ”controlled mess”. I emphasize either bouldering or sport depending on what trip/or goal I’m having but I don’t leave either one of those! I just start doing some of those more. Sometimes I climb 4-5 a week and do other gym stuff plus cardio (I know it’s a bit too much and now I’ve been trying to focus more on quality 🙈). It’s been hard to stay away from the gym, especially if I’m not working. Sometimes when I’m trying to gain power I might just have 3 really good sessions a week. If I’m also route setting I’m trying to have 2 rest days on the week. My session might vary from 1.5h to 4h

Sounds like chaos 😂 But that is why I have to mark everything in a Google calendar. To help me to have some kind of an idea and plan what to do. It’s also really helpful for seeing correlations, especially when overtraining. Now I’m a bit older, ”The old keys don’t open new doors”, so I can not compare my training weeks to the ones I did when I was in my 20s. So now my goal is to focus more on quality.

Eduard Marin, one of the best multi-discipline climbers in the world, covering pretty much everything from winning a World Cup and doing alpine bigwalls, has done in Santa Linya. (c) William Barcelo

Can you tell us more about Fabela and your upcoming plans?
I am really happy to be back in the 9a game again. It is like two years I have been on expeditions. It is a really nice and long physical route. It is a combination of an 8c+ with an 8b+. I am happy to feel in shape again. This year I want to focus on trying some harder routes. I will start to train seriously and try to send Stoking the Fire (9b). I am motivated to push my limit again. I am on fire again.

What does climbing typically look like for you nowadays?
A normal week means climbing rock 2-3 days and then a rest day and then 3 climbing days more. Before I go climbing I warm up at home and do some exercise. I am working on building the new gym in Lledia that will be open this year. I am a professional climber so my work is just to climb. Being a professional climber right now is very hard. It is hard work, you need to publish every day on Insta. You need to publish videos on Youtube. You need to be in shape and prepare your expeditions. We have more home work now. I live in two different worlds. In the beginning, there was no social media. You just made a picture with a photographer and that was it.

Doug McConnell, who did his first 8c+ last year, has done Coma Sant Pere (8c+) in Margalef. The picture by Kerrin Gale is from La Rubia (8c+)

Can you tell us about your latest 8c+?
I’m always drawn to big routes so my mate, Amos, recommended I try Coma Sant Pere. He wanted to try Tierra Negra (next to it) so it worked well to session them together. My partner Kerrin, and I drove to Margalef in early February and I climbed straight on CSP. It was pretty daunting at first because its so big. Something like 50m and steep (45 deg+/-). After a few sessions of refining beta, I started working on linking each of the individual sections. The route breaks down into 3 sections, each about the same difficulty (8a+/8b), with good rests between. On day 8, I climbed from the ground to a few moves above the last (17th) bolt. It felt like it would go down in the next day or two but I didn’t make any more progress on my next 11 days! In the end I fell above the last bolt 10 times from the ground. Mentally this was hard. It felt like I was “punting” off the top because the climbing is quite easy up there, but actually my endurance needed a bit of a top up to get it done.

Finally on my 20th session I didn’t fall off. It was bizarre. I could shake out in all the moves where I had previously fallen off pumped out of my mind. It's that kind of route. It probably has to feel easy when you do it. About the grade, I consider this to be pretty close to a perfect style for me and I’m climbing better than ever so I think low end 8c+ is fair. CSP is one of the most beautiful routes I have ever done. I can highly recommend it!

What is your climbing background and how are you managing to climb your best at 41?
I started climbing in about 2000. Mostly Trad climbing and bumbling around Tasmania. I did bits and pieces of route development. I never did comps or anything and I still feel uncomfortable calling climbing a "sport"...but I started to get psyched on climbing harder on a year long trip to Europe in 2010. Since then I've always wanted to come back to Spain. I love the big steep routes that euro limestone offers. Australia has some amazing rock and routes but there is lacking quality steep rock. There are some great crags but the nature of the rock type and architecture makes the hard climbing quite specific and not that easy to "train" on.

I'm climbing better than ever now but there's no rocket science to that. I've never climbed super hard before so its easy to improve on that! Also, fingers crossed, I've slowed my injury rate by being a bit smarter but the main thing is that, surprise surprise, living in a van and climbing all the time is really good for your climbing.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo has onsighted his third 8c, in Santa Linya and he is #2 in the onsight ranking game after Adam Ondra. "I still can't believe! A nice special moment!" (c) Kerrin Gale

The next day, the 23-year-old did Ingravid shers pa la enmienda (9a). Then after a rest day, he sent one 9a a day for three days straight; JoeDan (9a), Fabelita r2 (9a) and Fabela pa la enmienda (9a).

Iker Pou, 46, has done the FA of Sa planxa (8c+) in Mallorca. (c) Maria Torres Ledesma

"Sa Planxa is an amazing route, bolted by my friend Kike. It is totally natural, full of crimps and long moves. The route is about 7 bolts at 40 degrees. I did the first ascent and it is for sure one of the best in Mallorca in his style. Now I have two weeks more for sport climbing, aerobic training and [hopefully to] finish a super nice multi-pitch that I'm opening with my brother. We leave for an expedition to the Himalayas (Pakistan) at the end of April for alpine climbing. After the expedition [we] try to put feet in climbing shoes again!"

Iker, besides being known as the climber always smiling, is perhaps most recognized for his FAs of big walls on all seven continents, his early repeat of Action Directe, plus a further 30+ repoints 9a and harder.

Hugo Parmentier has done Le pied à coulisse in Fontainebleau. It was put up by Guillaume Glairon-Mondet and has some five repeats. Hugo, who previously has done one 9a+ (b) route and seven 8B+ blocs, all in Font, calls this his first 8C. (c) Tess Rougemont

"It is a great satisfaction and achievement to have lived fully and consciously this ascent during a weekend rich in successes. I did my first 8A+ flash the day before. This is the result of several years dedicated to bouldering. About 4 or 5 years ago, I started to work on my weaknesses in order to pass a step in sport climbing that I was the most used to. It’s also a childhood dream to achieve an 8C boulder. Although it’s cliché, I’m learning to appreciate my path, to live well with failures, and frustrations, to live fully successes, to realize how lucky I am and also to congratulate myself on my choices. Long way to go 🤘 I’ve also done Le surplomb de la mée assis (8B+) the other day. For the next months, I have still some projects in the forest for this spring like the classic The Big Island (8C) and I’m currently training for the world cup circuit as well as some hard routes in south France."

The 24-year-old has been an active competition climber for some ten years and as a junior, he made it to the podium, three times in the World Championship. In the World Cup, his best result is #9.