Charlotte Durif has onsighted some 80 routes 8a+ to 8b+

Charlotte Durif onsighted her first 8b, out of 20, at age 14. Including also three 8b+ and some 60 8a+, the French is the female climber having done most hard onsights in the world, full list. Almost all of them she did being a teenager when she also won five Youth World Championships and competed intensively. At age 15, she won the Euro senior championship and one year later she was #2 in her first-ever Boulder WC. In 2010, being 18-years-old, she won the Chamonix World Cup and then on her 21st birthday, she became the second woman to do a 9a by repeating Adam Ondra's PPP in Verdon. Her last big win was the Arco Rock Master in 2014 and then she finished her competition career in 2016.

What have you been up to after getting that PhD in Chemistry?
Then I lived the dream of travelling around the World with Josh during our A World Less Traveled World Tour for almost 2 years. For the last 2,5 years, we settled in Salt Lake City, UT, USA because Josh (Larson) got the position of National Team Head Coach at USA Climbing. I kept a connection with the competition World by working for the IFSC for a bit over a year until COVID hit, and I'm still part of the Athlete Commission. More recently I was honoured to attend the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as a sport consultant for France TV which was a historical event for our sport in particular. Finally, amongst small missions using my Engineer and Doctor degrees, opportunities led me to now be working in the photo and video industry with our media company Cold House Media, and I use most of my free time to climb or bolt a new spot not far from home. (c) Selfie from, A World Less Travelled #8 - Peru

How come you focused so much on onsights being a teenager?
I guess it just happened this way! Part of why I love climbing is being up on the wall, in my own bubble with the square meter of rock in front of me. I loose track of time on that travel and I like to climb flawlessly, effortlessly and precisely. With that I've developed a good ability to rest, being aware of my body and being patient, which is ideal for onsight. Also, luckily my dad was my first supporter and did not care about belaying me for hours, which I'm very grateful for and makes a big difference!

How did you handle the pressure pushing hard in unknown terrain?
I've never really pushed myself to climb hard. I'm not addicted to the difficulty of the grade. I climb a lot at my level of the moment, which would naturally increase, so then I'd go on harder routes when it is time for the next step up. I just don't like trying routes over and over, so 4 or 5 tries per route would be a max before I moved on. With all the crags and routes existing in the world, for me it's more pleasing to sample a lot of climbs than to spend weeks-months-seasons on the same route.

Were you not scared being up there risking taking long falls up there as a kid? Do you remember taking any long shippers as a kid?
I never really thought about it on a regular basis, but I had some moments of fear for sure. I remember freezing into place and having to wait a few minutes to calm my nerves before being able to move up, but this would happen mostly in vertical or slabby terrain. Although I don't have specific memories of big terrifying whippers, I'm sure I may have taken some. To be honest, I still am scared nowadays when the fall looks weird or exposed.

How was the onsight when you combined the four pitches of Ultime démence (8a+, 8a, 8a+, 7c+) into a 100-meter monster 8b+ pitch?
Woah thanks for the travel back to time! I had to look at my archives for this one! I feel like I had a period where I loved being on the wall forever and would always look for the longest routes wherever I travelled, especially when they had extensions. I spent a lot of time in the Verdon then, including when the sector "la Ramirole" was seeing a lot of bolting from Graou and Antonin for single pitches. Naturally, I started linking up the first few pitches of the multipitch routes that already existed there. Few of these ascents later, I decided to try to link up the 4 first pitches of Ultime Demence and I guess it worked out great with some good quickdraws extending/unclipping to not have an insane rope drag at the end.

How has the onsight focus helped you in your climbing career?
It definitely helped me by being efficient, creative and developing a good instinct and body awareness when on the wall, whatever format it is (boulder to multipitch). Cause or consequence of this, I know very quickly if I'll be able to climb a route/boulder which is very necessary for me to enjoy the process of it and appreciate each climb. Obviously, it also helped tremendously in competitions as it is an onsight format and you have only one chance to understand the moves in front of you, which I was quite good at.