La Fouche with his party smile

The medical team fixing a burner on Said Belhaj

Dani Andrada onsights an 8a+ 'Soft'

Edu Marin on the same 8a+

Petzl has for some years now organized several Roc Trips, which are like climbing festivals with part of the focus on all night long parties. Petzl has almost 100 people preparing the festivals, which includes putting up new routes with fixed carabiners, organizing food, shows and parties. 8a asked to get an invitation and the founder of the event, La Fouche, picked us up at the airport. His concept for the Roc trip is simple: Invite some true life-style climbers, put up some nice new routes and prepare for party...then it can't go wrong. - We don't want to make it competitive and instead we try to create a nice atmosphere where the best climbers can challenge themselves. Desperately we tried to sell some banner space but he just kept talking about his passion and getting interrupted by phone calls. La Fouche has tried the international competition arena and he knows: 1. Climbers want to see other climbers climb, 2. Climbers want to climb a lot and 3. Climbers want to party. As celebrities such as Chris Sharma, David Graham, Dani Andrada and Lynn Hill come back year after year, it seems as if he knows what he is talking about.

Normally they have an 'ultimate route' with prize money and fixed ropes for the photograpers and this year the 8c+ respectively 8b were completed by Kleman Becan, Chris Sharma, Charlotte Durif, Martina Cufar and Lynn Hill. Sharma did the route on his eigth climbing day in a row and I think this just prooves that he is a long way from spending endless days in competition isolations climbing single routes. On his ninth day we met him together with Graham at the crag. They had checked out some new 80 m walls in Gorges du Tarn and it does not take long before Chris's eyes are all over the place. - What kind of routes are up there? - I guess some 6c's and 7a's, his girfriend responds. - Wow, we have to climb them. So you see that this guy doesn't like restdays... - Ok, let's do the routes barefoot without ropes as I did in the old days (his look-a-like father smiles).

Chris is on his way back to USA where he will set up some climbing camps for children. This autumn he will go back to Mallorca where he has a DWS project that has already had him swimming about 100 times. Apparently, there is a super dyno halfway and then some hard moves on the 52-mover. They swim out in the morning with loads of chalk bags loaded in a dry pack. Then he goes to Kalymnos for the next Roc Trip and the perfect life continues...

Graham is on his 30+ restday due to an injury and soon everybody is checking his injury and giving advices. He has yet another month of frustrating recovery days and if he is lucky he can at least belay his girlfriend. - I'm truly very sorry that I haven't continued the relay interview, he says, but I have a plan... (8a runs a relay interview where celebrities are interacting and David got the stick from Natalija Gros.)

The womens 'ultimate route' was done by Charlotte Durif (15), Martina Cufar (29) and Lynn Hill (45). Lynn says that lately she trains at her maximimum capacity once a week and I ask how this is possible. Pointing at her head, she says - It is all in your mind, and she smiles. Lynn runs some training clinics each year and I feel that I might have use for a mental brainwash as well. - So let's say you also focus on physical training, what could you then achive? - I have seen a nice looking 8c+ in Rifle and I might just start projecting that route this autumn. Somebody carries around her 3-year-old child and I think 'Superwoman'.

I guess that can also be said about Charlotte who, three days later, won the European Championship in Russia. The thing that makes it even more interesting is that she had been training and travelling for 15 days in a row, instead of preparing with restdays like her competitors. With such a lifestyle climbing filosophy I guess she can turn into a perfect role-model. Strangely, Charlotte has recieved a lot of critiscism in France from guys who don't beleive her ascents and accuses her for poor ethics. I talked to her father, who in fact plays an important role in most of Charlottes climbing, and he said that they had stopped reading open forums. Last day, Charlotte did get very frustrated missing some 8a's and contrary to the rumours her father was very supportive. Regarding the ethics, apparently they did not know all the 'regulations' when Charlotte was only13 but they have been and still are learning and I answered some of his question on what 8a thinks is a correct practice for onsight etc.

Unfourtunately, there are not so many pictures from the Roc Trip and this is because we thought that Petzl would present some on their website, which we could use. Strangely, there are very few out there on the web and this is actually the first article presented in english from the event. I guess that la Fouche focuses on making high quality festivals and in the long run this will pay itself because then they get free good-will articles like this instead of having to buy banners from 8a ;-) 

Onyx - Ultralight (285 g) for high level climbing

Quartz - comfortable (400 g) for the regular climber

In cooperation with C.A.M.P. eleven 8a members have tried two harnesses: Onyx and Quartz with very good results. In general terms everybody has been satisfied and especially the stretching leg-loops have scored very high. It should also be mentioned that the price for the two C.A.M.P. harnesses range from Euro 45 - 70 in different countries, i.e. they are cheaper than equivalent harnesses in this class. We did not receive any major complaints so it is thumbs-up from the Test-pilot panel. Here are the Test-formulair and the Results:

"We hope you have had the possibility to try the C.A.M.P. harness. Here are some quick questions. Please answer at a scale: If you don't have an answer just mark "?"

5 = Best in market
3 = Average
1 = Worst in market

1: COMFORT - 4.1 & 3.8 (Onyx & Quartz)
2: LOOKS - 4.0 & 4.1
3: QUALITY - 4.2 & 4.0
4: PRICE - 4.6 & 4.4

First we are interested in how important you think the new details are: 5 = Very important 1 = Not interesting at all

Auto Fit: Stretching leg loops - 4.2
No Twist: The extra opening in the belay loop - 3.8 (Some say 1 and others 5)
Gear loops - 3.7
Padding in waist belt - 3.1
The Velcro belt - 3.6

Any general comments or any things you don't like with the harnes. 
In total we have just have had four complaints, two of the refers to that the harnes creates friction once you don't use a T-shirt. Some did not understand the point of the extra opening in the belay loop. See the picture below!

No twist - The carabiner is fixed and can not rotate

ON EKATERINBOURG - Patxi Usobiaga, Zurich, 6th of July, 2006 (translated by Ignacio Sandoval Burón and Petri Kemppainen)

The truth is that words are not enough to describe this competition but the closest I can come up with is: "scandal". You will ask yourselves why, now I will explain to you how the subject goes.   

Ekaterinbourg is a Russian city quite far from everywhere, two and a half hours hours flight east from Moscow. It has been hosting some World Cup competitions for several years, the latest taking place in 2003 in a permanent climbing wall, that may well have been squalid, but the competitions worked.   

The first surprise was that they had constructed a new wall for this occasion, which gave us hopes to compete in a worthy wall for a European Championship.                               

Thursday, 29th of June, we went to the isolation zone, which was quite bad, a small bottle of sparkling water and an apple... chairs for 20% of the people, and the warming-up wall (the most important thing) comrised of three vertical panels with very few holds on it... Well, this didn't give any further hopes of the competition wall being competent...  and, surprise! The wall was formed by four vertical walls, two for speed and the other two, assumed for difficulty... and in addition they were out of the ICC regulation. They did not overhang the minimum of 5 metres. (8a comment: in the 2006 regulations overhang is not specified).

The result was that as all the climbers returned to the isolation room they were without any desire to compete and instead a desire to return home thinking let the Russians compete their way.

As you know the bouldering comp was cancelled. Now, my question is,  how is that this can happen in the 2006?  Does not  ICC have an organizational seat to present guidelines on how to organize such an event?  Does not ICC have a group responsible for controlling all these subjects?  How can ICC decide to carry out a European Championship without a wall in order?   

Ladies and gentlemen, something does not work here, and I am sure that the climbing competition arena as such will fade if something is not done.  As for my self, I see a great future for this sport. However, this can only be possible if events such as the one in Russia are avoided in the future. All we are eager of seeing climbing becoming an Olympic sport, but I, as a competitor, prefer to keep it as it is for now, so we don't risk this kind of frauds in an Olympic sport.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interview by Karina Hillestad

Caroline Ciavaldini (21), is #2 in the ICC world ranking, has onsighted several 8b's and 8a's, finished third in the world cup in 2005 and won the french championship 2004-2006. Phew! That´s a lot of achievements for being only 21 years old, Caroline!

Do you enjoy competitions?
Yes, it´s good fun and I like the challenge and the concentration I have to put up to do my best. Also, I get to visit a lot of different countries. I do wish I had more time to explore them though.

Caroline´s home is in Aix en Provence in France, but her first experience with climbing was already at the age of 12, in the Reunion Island where she grew up. Now, she trains with the the Pôle France in Aix, and is supported by La Française des jeux.

What do you think makes you such a good climber?
First of all I really LOVE climbing, and as a consequence of that I climb often - a lot on natural cliffs in southern France (Pellion, St Léger, Orgon, Lormarin, Destel). I enjoy the diversity of the movements in climbing, and what I like most is hard onsights, where I really have to fight the routes!

Caroline thinks one of her benefits is a strong mentality. We might have to agree on that. (She onsighted 8b in Peillon a couple of weeks ago!) When she doesn´t climb, she´s studies biology and likes to read. Maybe too much, she says.

What does your future look like?
I have so many nice souvenirs both from competitions and from the cliffs. I just want to carry on living this way, and hope to realise my goals in the upcoming competitions.

In other words: Caroline is living her dream. And show me one climber wouldn´t want to live it. Caroline Ciavaldini is sponsored by Edelrid, Kong, La Sportiva and Carrefour les milles.

On our climbing trip to Cataluna, Spain, we wanted to check out the notorious cave in S:t Linya and meet the man who last year bolted and climbed several routes 9a and harder, Dani Indrada. Dani, or mr 8a as he used to be called, is definitely one of the best sport climbers in the world and this year he was awarded Climbing magazine's piton for best sport climbing performances in 2005. The 8a staff was curious on the guy and we were looking forward to talk to and see him climb.

Arriving at the cave (after some directional problems) we were stunned by the size of it. It had a huge entrance and was close to 50 m in height with a 35m overhang. It immediately struck us that bolting these climbs must have been a hell of a job. And right we were, cause Dani later told us that each route took him and a friend three days. It didn't help him that he was using a bolt machine that had the size and sound of a lawn mower. HILTI, here is a guy you should sponsor!

Before getting the gear on we knew that we, team Rookie Junior, would suffer great defeat on the long pumping routes in the cave. Cause although the 8a staff happily report and measure the performances of other climbers our own performances lie in the lower spectra of grades. Fortunately though, we had arrived to the cave with super climbers Said Belhaj and Johan Gross, which ten folded the average performance of our group and kept our heads above water.

Dani arrived a few hours after us together with his girlfriend Dalia (the spider girl from Canary Islands) and a climbing friend named Danillo. Not knowing what to expect our first impression was that they were a very open and friendly bunch who excitingly started telling us about all the climbs, pointing in the roof and down on a handwritten topo. 8b+, 8c, 9a, 8c+, the list went on. Said who's always aiming to challenge himself mentally and physically became really keen on an 8c+ extension. The Spanish (excuse the generalization) also had their eye on a few particular routes but before initiating their quest to send some of their ongoing projects they warmed up by doing laps on the routes that we were struggling on.

Trying out the routes we found that it was all about pinches, open hands and jugs that required technical climbing to find the necessary resting positions on the way up. In other words, fantastic climbing, though we spend most of the time hanging in the rope. Well back on the ground the neck muscles were kept in work during the belay-slave sessions when Said was working on the Scandinavian record 8c+ (on the return about a week later he did it). Whenever one was tired of climbing or watching other people climb you could retire to the opening of the cave and bask in the sun. A great spot in other words despite the afternoon gathering of the murder flies from hell that kept feeding on the climbing muscles.

Talking to Dani we found out that he was paying for the bolts himself together with a friend and that he was always looking for new areas to bolt and project. Traveling around in his mini-home on wheels Dani always brings the bolt machine because you never know what you might discover. It seems to us that what Dani is doing for the climbing community is very commendable. He doesn't just take what is given to him because of his performances but he gives back in the form of new climbing areas and routes that is open for the community to climb.

Because of shortage of time and since we didn't want to bother Dani to much we didn't get to perform a proper interview with the strong Catalan. But we did get to ask him about how he and Dalia met and the story goes that when Dani was about to fall on a crux move he suddenly looked down and saw Dalia watching him. Screaming out he gathered his last strength and flung himself to the next hold where he could rest and then complete the route. Dalia became so flabbergasted that she hasn't left him since. So even for dedicated climbers like Dani there are things that are more important.

Johan, 8a

(S:t Linya is close from May to September because of archeological explorations)

Did you know that most hard redpoints and many onsights have been done with 2 or 3 preclipped carabiners, i.e. toproping the first 4 - 8 metres? The top climbers created this style many years ago based on the logic of safety and that you can preclip as many carabiners you have once, or will be able to, down climb. The first idea and definition of a redpoint was invented by Kurt Albert in Frankenjura, in the 70-ties. He simply put a red dot (rot punkt) once he had led a route without hanging in the bolts, which was the normal procedure those days.

The climbing community has since created more detailed 'rules' which have been circulated. In 2004, 8a published the first 'written rules' in order to define what is an acceptable behaviour, but also to discuss what is on the border line, using the colours of a traffic light. In the 8a Practice & Ethics, we state that one preclipped is OK (green). Two is OK, if it is for safety reasons or you have down climbed but not untied (yellow). If you are using three or more we don't think you should claim this a redpoint. Of course there could be exceptions on three preclipped but then we are talking a very dark orange.

This means that most of the hard redpoints reported at 8a are, in fact, on the border line for valid ascents, which is only natural as top athletes always try to stay on the cutting edge. However, sometimes the downclimbing procedures have been stretched in different subcultures and simply become ridiculous. Here are some amusing violations I have seen myself.  

• 11 preclipped as the person had once down climbed from that carabiner!
• The first 8b in Sweden was done with 3 preclipped. Later the FA tried to down climb from #3 and stated - "It is possible to down climb, but I don't have time!"
• In a video, the FA proudly explains that he once jumped from seven meters and therefore always could start with preclipped from that point!

In other words, sometimes a redpoint attempt starts or ends with a down climbing/jump project to the ground! This is just stupid, climbers should focus on moving upwards. 8a thinks that if there is a risk for an accident while clipping the second carabiner you can always preclip the second. Regarding downclimbing, 8a thinks it is OK, as long as you don't untie from the rope.

When 8a introduced the scorecard we tried our best to put in a more conservative approach as we invented Freepoint, which meant a toprope ascent, or that you had had more than two preclipped. Of course it didn't work... Anyhow it was a statement what 8a thought. It should been mentioned that preclipping can lower the grade of an ascent. An 8a route, including a safe but hard second clip, might be just a 7c+ ascent if the second was unjustified (red) preclipped. It is important to be open, comment, the ascent if it is done and graded in the dark orange zone!  

The bottom line of all discussion of the climbing Practice & Ethics is that our procedures should focus on safety, fun and climbing upwards. By this we mean that of course also a 7a climber could also use two preclipped in order to avoid an incident. But don't push the limit and do it systematically. You know, in soccer two yellow cards means suspension and if you are unlucky the suspension might last for one game or more ;-)

Gérôme Pouvreau, the youngest world champion in lead climbing in 2001 (17), suceeded in winning this years third World Cup bouldering stage in Rovereto (Italy). Interview by Nice-Climb/Kairn of a polyvalent climber. (Translation by Jean-Baptiste Jourjon - French version available on www.Kairn.com)

Nice-Climb/Kairn: You were lead champion in 2001? Then you won a bouldering WC stage in 2005 in Italy, how come?
Gérôme Pouvreau: I don´t know. In fact, in 2001 I trained mostly for lead climbing. And even in 2005 I had not been training for bouldering comps, but I was "hungry" because I wanted to join the French bouldering climbing team.

N/K: Then you continued playing in both playgrounds? Was this just for fun?
GP: In a way, for me all types of rock climbing, natural bouldering and competition are fun.

N/K: Lead / Boulder, what do you like the most?
GP: I like climbing so I like both. But it's true that I recently discovered the friendliness of bouldering, and as I'm a jack of all trades, I quickly caught the virus.

N/S: You look well built, have you changed your training?
GP: I think I am well built for bouldering. And you need strength as well to succeed in extreme routes. Roughly, I didn't have to change the way I climbed.

N/K: Is your victory fruit of specific training or of practice more based on pleasure ?
GP: It's true that my training is based on pleasure, I have no rigid planning and I only do what I really enjoy. This winter I did a lot of boulder because it has me "tripping", and it was so cold at the crags. Before this competition, I climbed routes during 3 weeks and I ticked a lot, so when I arrived in Rovereto, I had fangs reaching the floor.

N/K: In resistance climbing, is your favourite style short or long routes?
GP: Rather short, but I talk about resistance of course! In fact, I don't like shaking the arms.

N/K: Tell me, climbing competitions are not really endurance, right? Trailmakers don't like guys resting for hours on a hold?
GP: I would say it's long resistance, but not endurance, because a good lactic climber should be able to rest on poor holds. But it's obvious trailmakers try to make climbers move forward. Routes that are too much endurance typed are boring, nothing happens?

N/K : The bouldering competition rules changed this year. In your opinion, what is good and bad about this?
GP: New rules are nice for public and climbers. Finally, you get more rest between the problems, as a consequence the effort is more based on pure power: it's more bouldering than resistance. In addition, you really feel the presence of the audience who can now focus on two or just one climber. On the other hand, only 6 boys and girls reach the final and a single mistake in the semi-final will turn you into spectator.

N/K: Multi-purpose climbers were proper at François Petit's era, do you think that this trend is back?
GP: I think polyvalent climbing is in decline. In competition the trend is towards specialisation in one field : lead or boulder, maybe due to the fact that the competition seasons become longer year after year. But also because of the level of the current leaders, it seems quite difficult to win in both.

N/K: Angela Eiter and Tomas Mrazek decided to compete in both lead and boulder circuits. They seem to do quite well. Do you think they can make the double?
GP: It's true that a lactic climber on the podium of a bouldering WC looks messy! Concerning guys, it seems very difficult because the season is so long. To win the boulder WC people need to be polyvalent, it means being strong in every style, styles that are generally pushed to the extremes.

N/K: And do you think that THE power is the prime element for climbing high difficulties?
GP: That's for sure! You need a strong base of power to climb hard routes.

N/K: Ok, you're in the top ten but the first time I saw you, you had old shoes with holes in them [it was at Jurassic Park]. Is your situation better now? Why, what changed?
GP: My bank account evolved, but it's not Zizou's one [Zinedine Zidane]? After a few good results and some ticks outside I got some sponsor deals. Now I can live through climbing, and this is not everyone´s option?

N/K: Will you return to lead competitions?
GP: Maybe but not yet, simply because I don´t wan´t too.  Right now, I am focusing on bouldering?

N/K: The Charente region and the Alps don't have the same meaning in the consciousness of climbers. Do you think that the addition of the qualifying "maritime" changed things for those who would like to start climbing?
GP: Gasp, Charente maritime, it reminds me of good memories! The time when, every morning when I woke up, I was looking through the window in case boulders would have sprouted. We were climbing on anything and everything. We had no crag but we were climbing like beasts on resin. To succeed in a flat country, people have to believe in oneself. I made every effort to get the highest level. Grandma told me "better be mad from La Rochelle than lazy from Savoie".

Juliette Danion just won the third stage of the bouldering World Cup 2006 in Rovereto (Italy). (Translation by Jean-Baptiste Jourjon - French version available on www.Kairn.com)

KC: You participated in the first ever World Cup in Benasque-99. What do you think has changed since then, regarding atmosphere, rules, show and professionalism?
JD: I am not sure since this was a long time ago and I was young and it was my first big competition. I would say that the organisation and professionalism have evolved in a good way. The scene appears more serious today, even if it varies depending on the country that arranges the comp. More resources are spend on making it attractive to the public. Besides, the new rules with 6 finalists climbing one at a time is great for the audience. In addition, people can sit, the boulders are raised and the spotlights participate in the "show".

KC: You disappeared from the circuits for a while, did you stop climbing? Were you fed up with competing?
JD: I didn´t stop climbing, but I stopped competing for 4 years. In fact, I enjoyed the boulder competitions in 99 when I started, but then I moved to the south of France and I became more attracted by crags! Also, at this time, I was not satisfied with my performances in the competitions since I rarely reached the finals.

KC: For two years now, you´ve been getting stronger and stronger and now you win a World Cup stage. What has changed?
JD: I returned to competition by chance: I took part in the open at l´Argentière for fun and I noticed that I had become stronger. After this I continued, which motivated me to do more and more bouldering. Before this I was almost only climbing at crags.

KC: What is your objective for this year, the title?
JD: I don´t think I can win the title, Olga Bibik is too far ahead of me. On the other hand, why not a podium?

KC: You´re quite tall. Do you think it´s an important advantage in bouldering compared to your smaller opponents?
JD: Indeed I´m 179cm tall and most often the other competitors are smaller. It gives me an advantage on vertical climbs. But as soon as you have overhangs or roofs and mantles, I feel disadvantaged because of my weight and long cumbersome! In a discussion at Rovereto with the chief trailmaker, Laurent Laporte, we both agreed that the advantages and disadvantages of height compensate on a circuit thanks to the diversity of the problems.

KC: Bouldering competition rules changed this year. What is your opinion on this?
JD: From the climbers point of view, it´s more tiredsome and more stressful because of the semi, where no mistakes are allowed.  But it is also more interesting. And in the final, the public can cheer on each climber exclusively, that´s quite motivating! From the audience point of view, according to what I´ve been told, the show has improved but there remains things to be done. For instance, there should be a screen that show the results, which are automatically updated.

KC: Angela Eiter and Tomas Mrazek decided to compete in both lead and boulder circuits. They seem to come trough quite well. Do you think they can make the double?
JD: It´s true they come trough very well, I admire this. But the schedule won´t allow them to participate in each stage in both disciplines. It´s a pity because they have good chances. But they will surely be present for the European Championships !

KC: Do you fell a desire of competing in lead?
JD: Yes I feel like doing it because I love climbing in crags and the effort you have in long routes but I will never do both because I lack time. If I have to choose, I prefer bouldering competitions, it´s much more recreational and training is less restrictive.

style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">All pictures by Simon Carter - www.onsight.com.au

DWS Ring of Fire, 8b+ Croatia

Mecca, 8b+ Raven Tor

Liquid Amber, 8c North Wales

Power Endurance - The Key to Routes! By Steve McClure

Rock climbing is an incredibly complex sport placing considerable demands on our body. Unlike many sports, where muscles are trained to work in one specific way, climbing requires a multitude of different 'strengths'. For example a route may have a bouldery start, followed by 10 metres of sustained climbing, and then 20 metres of relatively easy ground to the top. However, the crux section of a climb can often be isolated to a relatively small part of the whole route and success often boils down to power endurance and beating the dreaded pump!

Note, strictly speaking power endurance should be called 'strength endurance', though in the climbing world we like our own rules!

style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Power Endurance (SE) Training.

One method of increasing our power endurance is to increase strength. That way relatively fewer muscle fibres are contracted allowing blood to circulate more freely. Certainly if you are very weak in the forearms a period of muscle building followed by recruitment will be of benefit. However, pumped forearms are generally what stop the route climber and a little training in this area may go a long way.

requires loads high enough to shut down the capillaries and thus force a pump. This is an area of training where the phrase 'no pain no gain' is really applicable, the further we push into the pump the more our muscles will adapt. When training PE care must be taken to make it very specific; the muscles must be used in the same way as during climbing. Training PE purely on crimps may not translate well to PE on pockets despite the same forearm doing the work, and on-sighting and redpointing will be different because the contraction and relaxation periods are longer when onsighting.

style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Routes and bouldering

Probably the best training for PE is on routes or boulder circuits you know well and don't have individual crux moves. When first embarking on PE training spend a day working out a circuit of around 30 moves with no easy sections or rests. Remember, keep it specific, mimic the angle and style of the routes you are training for. Perhaps even include a virtual clip every five to ten moves. The circuit should initially be too hard to do in one push so break the circuit up into a number of sections, probably 3 or 4, any more than that and the circuit may be too hard. Give yourself an obvious hold to aim for rather than just dropping off when pumped as this will drive you on to your max. For the first few sessions treat the circuit as a redpoint, working the sections individually and learning the sequences. When familiar, at first aim to climb the circuit in the individual sections with around 10-15 seconds rest between each section. Just having a burn on the whole circuit will lead to failure, for example at move 18. You would then be too pumped to finish the circuit unless you have a long rest. By splitting the circuit each repetition gives you 30 moves of high intensity training. Take around 15 minutes between repetition and do three to four repetitions per session. As the weeks progress you will start to see gains (and become more familiar with the circuit) and need to make some changes to maintain intensity. Drop the number of rests with the intention of eventually climbing the circuit in one push. Next, if required, add a further 15 moves onto the original circuit. Eventually you will be climbing the original circuit with no rest plus an extension!

style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Foot-on campus training.

The campus board is an excellent tool for the advanced climber wishing to maximise recruitment, however, even the strongest have trouble training PE on the board. The answer is to use your feet, either on a chair behind the board or ideally on pre-placed footholds. This situation does not allow for much upwards movement though at least the movement is specific to climbing. For PE training this is very effective as it targets the forearms. The number of reps can be altered to achieve the desired pump and you won't fail at a crux move on a boulder circuit. A movement example would be;

Both Rung1

RH Rung3

LH Rung3

RH Rung2

LH Rung1

RH Rung1

For PE, repeat 10 to 20 times leading with alternate hands forcing a sustained burning pump. Rest for 3 - 5 minutes and repeat 3 - 4 times.

style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Warning!

Pumped forearms hurt, though some climbers actually seem to enjoy the feeling! The high concentrations of lactic acid in the muscle are actually toxic and if we force this situation too frequently then more harm will be done than good. Beware, PE should not be over-trained. The phase length should be a maximum of a month if training PE twice or more per week.

PE training also actually reduces our muscular recruitment; this is simply because our bodies cannot operate to the max for different requirements. Champion 100metre sprinters rarely win the 800metres! If you are only interested in three move boulder problems then ditch the PE. For the route climbers of the world, don't worry, PE will build on well trained efficient muscles, the result being an increased ability in all areas. 

The working class hero

Steve has been climbing for 30 years and is in fact climbing more, better and in more disciplines than ever. Already in 98 he put up his first 9a and regurarly onsighted 8a+'s. In the 8a all time ranking he is #11. His fourth 9a came during last year in which he also managed to boulder 8B,  trad E86c, flash the 11 pitches long Hotell Supramonte, Deep water solo - 16 m 8b+ FA (world record), put up a 21 pitches long route in Greenland -04 and become #1 in the UK competitions.

I met him in the kitchen in the guesthouse of Terradets. - Check this out, free bread from yesterday. Steve is a true working class hero and instead of working his way out with good sponsor deals he saves Euro 5 per day, compared with his mate who pays for semi-pension. Later in the week he gets excited when finding a rope bag, true working-class behaviour.

When I try to get answers to questions about how is it possible to keep improving and staying on the cutting edge within so many different styles, I only get humbleness. In fact, I believe that he doesn't think that he is that good (This is why I included all the facts in the ingress). Anyway, instead I asked him for some training advice.

During the days in Terradets, Steve inspired us with many stories from different arenas and almost every evening he showed climbing movies or pics from around the world. He really likes to take pictures and one of the days he tries to get a shot of me from above while onsighting a 7c+, which I and my partner considered a hang-dog. Said told me that I had to go for it and wished me 'good luck with the last clip'. My god, as I stand there, 2m away from Steve, with absolutely nothing left to even dream about a clip waiting to fall, Steve reads my panic, puts his camera away and whispers - "If you just put your hand five cm lower, it's a super jug. You're doing fine, you can do the clip". His voice is so encouraging that I make it and I just guess that if the hug hadn't been big enough he would have let me grab his foot or even pulled up the rope himself.

Here is the unique list with the hardest trad routes in the world. Surely, some are missing but we believe that this list is the most correct available today. In UK they are using a different grading system, showing also how dangerous the routes are. We have tried to convert these grades into the 8a scale. It should be mentioned that some routes, are relatively easier than sport routes once top-roping, as sometimes the difficulty on trad routes includes difficult positions placing gear and clipping the gear. In sport climbing, the carbiners are normally already hanging on the bolts which are placed in easier positions.

A Little Peculiar a.k.a. Elegy Direct 8c / E6 7b Paul Higginson

Bellavista 8c Alex Huber

Blind Vision 8b+ / E10 7b Adrian Berry

Welcome to the Cruel World 8b+ / E9 7a Dave Birkett

Dihedron 8b+ Randy Leavitt

Dihedral Wall 8b+ Tommy Caldwell

Elder Statesman 8c? / HXS 7B Steve McClure

Fathers Day 8b+ Alan Moore

Greenspit 8b+ Didier Berthod

Is not always Pasqua 8b+ / E9 7a Mauro Calibani

Lost Horizons 8b+ Rob Candilera

Magic Line 8c Ron Kauk

No Way Jose 8b/8b+ Jose Pereya

Puss på morfar, 8b/+ Magnus Lindstedt

Rhapsody 8c+ / E11 7a Dave McLeod

South Face of Washington Column 8b+ Matt Wilder

The Great Arete 8c+ / E? 7b Steve Dunning

The Nose 8b+ Lynn Hill

The Dragon 8b+  Patrick Turner

Zebree 8b+ Jeff Beaulieu

Zodiac 8b/8b+ Huberbaum