Charles Albert reports on Facebook that he has done one more 8C FA, La révolutionnaire in Fontainebleau. The 20-year-old stopped using shoes about four years ago. (c) Neil Hart "I'm the only one who tried it. It took me some 20 sessions during 1,5 year. There is like 8 moves and the climbing is pretty basic just compression with bad holds in a roof up to a big swing I think it's harder with shoes. It's just a weird pocket for the right foot and I don't think the shoes fits there. In February, he did a direct version of Le pied à coulisse 8C (+) which is said to be impossible with shoes. Even so, Charles suggested 8B+ for his version. In practice, we do not know what grade his last FA gets for the guys using shoes but it could actually be 8C+ or even harder. We will follow up with an article discussing the potential need to adjust some grades because the lines are more easily done barefoot.

Bügeleisen from David Kompatscher on Vimeo.

Bügeleisen from David Kompatscher on Vimeo.

Charles Albert na Facebooku oznámil, že spravil prelez ďalšieho 8C vo Fontainebleau. Tentokrát sa jedná o prvý prelez La révolutionnaire, jeho vlastného projektu. Tento dvadsaťročný lezec prestal používať lezečky pred štyrmi rokmi. (c) Neil Hart "Som jediný, ktorý tento projekt skúšal. Zabral mi približne 20 návštev počas jeden a pol roka. Dokopy má 8 krokov a štýl lezenia je celkom jednoduchý, kompresia v strope za zlé chyty a následne do veľkého kyvadla. Myslím, že v lezečkách je to ťažšie. Na pravú nohu je tam zvláštna dierka a nemyslím, že by sa tam lezečká zmestila. Charles preliezol vo februári priamu verziu Le pied à coulisse 8C (+), o ktorej sa hovorí, že ju nie je možné preliezť v lezečkách. Napriek tomu pre svoju verziu navrhol obtiažnosť 8B+. V podstate nevieme, ako ťažký jeho boulder je za použitia lezečiek, no je možné, že by sa mohlo jednať o 8C+ alebo ťažšie. V nadväznosti na túto novinku prinesieme článok, kde rozoberieme možnú úpravu obtiažnosti ciest a bouldrov, ktoré bude jednoduchšie preliezť bez použitia obuvi.

"Mangarbo" 9a/+ FA by Seb Bouin from Marvin Winkler on Vimeo.

Jorg Verhoeven won the World Cup in 2008 and this year he has been on the podium in a Boulder WC (photo: (c) Heiko Wilhelm). He has also done the first repeat of the 25-pitch-long Dihedral 8b+ in Yosemite (photo: (c) Jorg Verhoeven). Please explain how your climbing interest has shifted over years and why it has been like this? I've always been drawn to many different types of climbing, already during the first years of doing world cups I found myself in the mountains or doing multipitches. Throughout the years I slowly moved from training - sportclimbing/bouldering - competitions to more adventurous stuff like alpine ridges, multipitch climbing in the Alps and abroad, trad climbing etc. What are your plans for 2017 and what about the Olympics? 2017 will see some more adventures like trad climbing in England, multipitch routes in Morocco and maybe even a short Yosemite trip. I will probably do some bouldering comps, but not more than 5 or so. The Olympics is quite a while ahead of us and frankly I will be too old to join the Games. By then I most likely will have ended my competetion career (about time after almost 20 years) and I will probably be hanging on an arctic bigwall or something... How do you think the scene will change it 10 years and where do you see yourself in 2026? We'll probably see a bigger drift between the competitive and the outdoor scene. To be cutting edge in one discipline you will need to specialize. Of course there'll always be climbers that do not specialize but they won't be pushing the limits of the sport. Already now there's not really a climber that can push the limits in more than 1-2 disciplines. Adam is amongst the best (not the same as pushing limits) at several disciplines, but only if he specializes for a certain period. I think the main point to understand is that most of the times, non-specializing athletes are not looking to be 'the best' at something. I can only speak for myself, but I've always aimed for personal goals, that have little to do with the actual level and its maximum. For example I've set myself 9b as a goal, although 9c would be pushing limits.

Jorg Verhoeven 2008 de bir Dünya Kupası kazandı ve bu yıl da podyumdaydı. (foto: (c) Heiko Wilhelm). Ayrıca Yosemite'deki 25 ip boylu Dihedral 8b+ rotasının ilk tekrar çıkışını yaptı (foto: (c) Jorg Verhoeven). Nasıl oldu da tırmanışa olan ilgin böylesine değişti ve bugün bu noktadasın? Her türlü tırmanış beni her zaman çekiyordu. Yarışmalarda ilk yılımda kendimi dağlarda, çok ipboylu tırmanışlarda bulmuştum. İlerleyen yıllarda yavaşça bu noktaya doğru evrildim. 2017 için Olimpiyatlar için bir planın var mı? 2017 de İngiltere'de geleneksel tırmanış, Fas' da çok ipboylu tırmanış belki küçük bir Yosemite turu olabilir. Muhtemelen birkaç kısakaya yarışması olacak. Olimpiyatlara daha var ancak sanırım o zamana bu iş için biraz yaşlı olacağım. Neredeyse 20 yıldır yarışıyorum ve bu daha fazla sürmeyecek. Herhalde o zaman bir duvar tırmanışında asılı filan olacağım. 10 yıl içinde tırmanış nasıl değişecek ve sen kendini nerede görüyorsun? Muhtemelen yarışmacı ve maceracı taraflar arasında daha bir ayrım göreceğiz. Sivrilmek için özelleşmen gerek. Tabi ki her türlü tırmanışı yapanlar olacak fakat sınırları zorlayamayacaklar. Şimdiden 1-2 disiplinde sınırları zorlayan tırmanışçı neredeyse yok. Adam, birçok disiplinde en iyilerden o da bir süre o dalda özelleşirse. Bence temel nokta şu, özelleşmemiş atletler en iyi olmak gibi bir derdi olmayanlar. Kendi adıma konuşacak olursam benim şahsi hedefim 9b çıkabilmek 9c ile limitleri zorlamak değil.