Akira Waku (52) ticks Birth of the Cool (8B+)

Akira Waku, who at age 48 did Hydrangea (8C) in 2019 , has repeated Ryuichi Murai's Birth of the Cool (8B+) in Shiobara. Waku started climbing at 35 and didn't have any previous sports background. As there was no gym around he built one which he still runs.

Can you tell us more about your second 8C?
The number of working days was 5 days in 2021, 30 days in 2022, and 7 days in 2023, for a total of 42 days. Every single move of the original part up to where it joins Karamba was difficult. At first, I couldn't link them at all. In the second half of 2022, all the moves were finally solved and the connection try started. In 2023, a stoic weight loss and conditioning went well, and as soon as I entered awakening mode, I was able to break through the core stability, and I was able to send it.

How do you train?
Training is mainly 3 hours 2-3 times a week of finger and weight training with the beast maker and fingerboard at home. I don't go to the gym very often. I go outdoors on weekends.

Currently, the 52-year-old is working Nexus (8C+) which is a harder variation and in this video we can see he is pretty close sending it. Ryuichi Murai did the FA and it is still unrepeated. "It will be a line that connects to the 8B+ that I climbed the other day after doing 10 moves of 8B to 8B+ with my own moves. It's a long line with a total of 40 moves. I started trying it immediately after climbing the 8B+. It seemed like I could climb with a good feeling, but the season where I could exert my strength has come to an end. In Japan, July is the rainy season and the rocks get wet. July and August are summer months, with temperatures exceeding 30°C. The next season will start in September when it gets cooler. Until then, keep training."