8a onsight by Illya Bakhmet-Smolenskyi (11)

Illya Bakhmet-Smolenskyi, who previously has done an 8c, has ticked off three 8b's and onsighted his first 8a last week, Pollastre de granja in Margalef. "It was very scary to clip the last bolt, I did not want to fall. The hardest part is on the first part. It is overhang climbing on small pockets but you can see the way to climb it. After the crux it is nice, vertical climbing that you cant see from the ground. It is my 5th try of trying to onsight an 8a." His mother, Ann, explains that Illya started climbing about five years ago but he has never had any trainers beside his parents, who climb in the 6th grade. Most of the times, Illya climbs outdoor as his parents normally work with IT and travel abroad. In 2014, he won Arco Rock Junior being 9 years old, and did his first 8a+. 8a encourage youngsters to focus mainly on onsights and a broad grade tick list pyramid. We will normally not publish ascents for kids mainly projecting hard redpoints.