Chris Weidner, 50, does first 8c+

Chris Weidner, who did his first, out of six, 8c’s at age 40, has sent Green Mile (8c+) at Jailhouse. ”There were so many opportunities for me to fall off this beast, it's hard to believe I finally didn't. 59 days over 3 seasons. What sticks with me most are the partners who made this happen - all 12 of them who belayed me at one time or another. Biggest thanks to Heather, Skyler and James, all of whom logged many many hours at the helm. Timing seemed serendipitous: I did my first 14b at 40, and now my first 14c at 50. I'm a slow roller, what can I say?”

What is your climbing background?
I started climbing mountains and granite cracks in 1988 in Washington, where I grew up, and quickly branched out to try everything I could: sport climbing, ice, aid, rope-soloing. To me at the time, being a climber meant being well-rounded in terms of skills. Over the years I've had different areas of focus: sometimes on trad and alpine rock, other times mostly sport climbing. My son was born nearly three years ago, and since then it's been easier to focus on training and sport climbing than on other disciplines, so I decided to set a goal that would be hard enough for me that success was far from assured.

What is your late bloomer recipe?
I've always seemed to lack strength and power, so I zeroed on those aspects of training. I spent more time board climbing - Tension Board and Moon Board, and also weight lifting. And this season I added more specific endurance training - basic stuff like 4 x 4 type circuits into my routine. Time on the route itself was perhaps the most valuable thing to me, learning the subtleties of 40 meters of very steep, complex terrain. Most of all, even before I could even do individual sections of the route, I had to believe there was a chance it was possible. As I learned the route more and more, confidence slowly arrived. I think confidence is ultimately the most important ingredient for a limit redpoint.

Is there a picture you can share?
Here's a selfie I took on top of the cliff one day last week when I couldn't find a partner. I ended up solo TRing the top third of the route since that's all I could realistically do solo. It's so steep that it's a pain in the ass to work alone.