Cameron Hörst sends third 9a in a month!

Cameron Hörst has done Zoolander (9a) in Red River Gorge. (c) Jonathan Hörst

”I belayed Alex Megos when he made the first ascent in the fall of 2019. Since then it has been repeated by Daniel Woods and Yannick Flohe. I finally was able to try and found it suited me very well. Short, steep and powerful with small crimps/pockets! Oh yeah, and only took a couple sessions. Feeling FITTTT”.

The 22-year-old started making 8a headlines when he did three 8b+ in 2012. Looking at his scorecard, it's clear that he has had eleven years of steady progress. Cameron's father is the well known climbing trainer and author, Eric Hörst who has helped shape and guide Cameron's solid and gradual progress over the years.

How can you explain your recent peak performance?
I can attribute my performance so far this year to compounding interest of my training (over the last couple years). I would also say, my focus on improving my climbing weaknesses over the year or so has helped a ton. On top of that I become a climbing trainer/ performance coach over the last year, which caused me to analyze my climbing training and performance in new way as well. Which has helped so it seems.