Andrea Lostia di Santa Sofia climbs Estado Critico (9a)

Andrea Lostia di Santa Sofia, who the last 15 months has done his first seven 8c+’, has completed Estado critico (9a) in Siurana.

Can you tell us more about the trip and doing your first 9a?
When Alessandro Larcher called me he knew I was one of the crazy few unemployed people that he could count on coming to a last minute trip to Spain. I thought about it for a sum of five seconds then I agreed, I couldn't miss out on a trip to Siurana with Alessandro, one of the people whose company not only I enjoy, but has been a catalyst to my growth as a climber.

So a week later there we were, under El Pati, surrounded by the routes that inspired many before us, routes like La Rambla, milestones in the history of climbing. One of these routes caught our attention, Estado Critico, a kingline following Kale Borroka's tricky then conquering the black striped headwall.

Choosing Estado Critico as a project for our trip was surely a big commitment, with only 6 climbing days Ale was skeptical about trying it seriously, the thought of investing the whole trip on a single route with a good chance not to send it was a thought we had to come to terms with.

That is why Ale didn't go all in on the route up until the very last few days, and managed to climb other hard routes like Directa Jabalì intead of focusing on just one. My tactic was to try Estado Critico for the first tries of the day until my quality dropped, then switch to other routes to keep some variety.

I managed to send the route on my last try of my last climbing day, just before driving to Barcelona to fly back home, at the base of the wall when I was tying up I felt the pressure, I already highpointed on my previous try so I should have been tired but my mind was numb, as soon as I started climbing everything was switched off, perfect clarity and just a general sense of peace and silence.