Alex Norton does Estado Crítico (9a)

Alex Norton, whose personal best was one 8c+ climbed two years ago, has sent Estado critico (9a) in Siurana. His journey to this ascent, along with his plans for 2025, reflects the ultimate dream of a 24-year-old climber—balancing a deep passion for the sport with his academic path as a PhD student in Sociology. His research explores the experiences of long-term homelessness in the UK.

”Climbing Estado has been a great experience for me. It's really one of the best bits of climbing I've ever been on and having that head wall where you can just fight and fight really made it for me. It's one of the best processes I've had trying a route.

I checked the route out for a day or so last February and to be honest got totally shut down and intimidated, i went straight to Margalef to get on some pockets. This New Year I’d planned a trip with a bunch of mates from the UK. I was meant to be out for 2 weeks and I thought id just spend a day on Estado to see how it felt in between sessions at Margalef again. My mate Arlo Rogers convinced me to get back on it and I was immediately taken by the route, I felt like a different climber instantly and far more comfortable. I put some days into the climb and then extended my trip to try to finish it. I didn't end up doing it in January but felt so close that I knew I was coming back. We celebrated Arlos' accent of the route by pulling an all-nighter in Barcelona before getting a 7am flight back to Birmingham.

I then spent the next 4 weeks heading to the Foundry and School Room in Sheffield training hard with Estado in mind. Being at El Pati with good mates made days at the crag really special. Learning how to approach such a long route from trying this with Eder Lomba and Arlo helped a lot and coming back down to cornudella to share beers with everyone after long days at the crag is probably what made the whole thing so unstressful, it's been a unique moment on this route where redpointing really didn't feel that stressful!

I’ve got a few more days before coming back to the UK now. I might have a look at some hard routes in Margalef before I leave, possibly Victimas del Futur! I'm heading to America as well soon after I'm back in Sheffield, we've planned a little road trip checking out BIshop and Yosemite with the goal of getting absolutely terrified on Freerider. I'm also hoping to return to the Frankenjura at some point this year to try and finish Action Direct and to be honest I'm pretty excited for some days back on longstanding projects at Ravens Tor and Malham Cove.”