Domen Škofic does 8c+ x5 in St Léger

Domen Škofic has been on a four week “solo” trip to Saint Léger, where he did 17 routes 8b to 8c+, including two onsights. (c) Jan Novak

The five hardest, for the overall World Cup winner in 2016, were; L'idéal chimérique (8c+), Le concept intégrale (8c+), Go Green Gringo (8c+), La ligne claire (8c+) and L'Enfumette (8c+).

Which route did you like the most and which did cause you most problem?
My favorite route I’ve done on the whole trip was “Le concept integrale”. I’ve spent two tries to equip this monster line with draws and to clean the top part but then I had so much fun on it that I was able to send it the next try after a huge fight. I liked it because I love long routes, it has a unique crux at the top where you have to throw your feet above your head and I think it’s also one of the most natural routes in SL.

Most of the routes I was able to send on my second, third or fourth try only L’ideal Chimerique I came close to my limit because I was underestimating it and I always tried it at the end of the day and I got to pumped.

The only route I came to my limit of 6 tries was Supercrackinette (9a+) and it was very tempting to try it more because it was [looking] very promising to send it quick but at the same time it could take me many more tries because I wasn’t solid enough on the last move and I would need to be quite lucky to get the last micro crimp perfectly…

Can you explain more about what you said on Instagram prior to the trip: “On the road 🇫🇷 solo mission, meet new people and climb great routes.”
Haha, yeah it’s awesome to do solo trips. I started doing this because I’ve always used too much energy getting people pumped up for a certain trip and at one point I realized that people that are actually psyched to climb at the crag I want to go are already there. … and meeting new people is anyway one of the best ways to learn in life not just climbing, I love it :)

I talked to people a little bit in advance of course. Before coming to SL I talked to Jules Marchaland and he recommended me to his friend that climbs a lot in the area. From there on I met new people and so it was never hard to climb with somebody cool every day :)

What are your next plans?
For 2024 plans I can’t really say because I’m really just following my instinct at the moment. The next trip will be to Villanueva del Rosario to finally try Chilam Balam (9b). I’ve been dreaming to try this route since I first saw videos about it.