David Bermudez, 15, onsights five 8a+/b

David Bermudez Carbonell, with six 9a’s under his belt, has during the last four weeks onsighted four 8a+’ and Niña mala (8b).

Can you tell us more about your focus on onsight?
I’ve always liked onsight climbing a lot, but in the past few months, I’ve been focusing on it in a different way because I’ve started traveling more to new areas with my climbing team, Sputnik Climbing. With the help of my trainers, I’ve managed to better visualize the routes from the ground and understand other important things to focus on.

In my opinion, onsight climbing is very important for developing skills that you can’t work on when trying a route multiple times. Giving an onsight attempt with all your energy is much more interesting than a redpoint, but sometimes people don’t find it appealing because onsight climbing pushes you out of your comfort zone—unlike redpointing, where you’re allowed more tries. I also like redpoint climbing, but it’s good to alternate it with onsight climbing.