El osteopata 9a by Jose Luis Olivares Ferrandiz

Jose Luis Olivares Ferrandiz, who previously has done nine 8c+, has done the second ascent of El osteopata (9a) in Mula.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I started trying the route in mid-November when it was still a project, half through December I injured my thumb skiing so I had to take a rest. Over Christmas time Alex Ventajas came back to Murcia and sent it really quickly, proposing 9a. A couple of weeks ago I started to try it again, not been completely recovered but able to do the moves as there are only a couple of holds where I had to use my thumb. With cooler conditions, it felt much better, and last Saturday after two failed attempts and quite relaxed because I thought I wasn’t doing it, somehow I managed to top it out.

So you did your first 8c+ in 2016, why did it take so long to come to 9a?
Before COVID I had a couple of 9a projects ready to send or at least try in a local crag, Santuario, with COVID I couldn’t climb and when I wanted to come back there, the crag was closed due to some problems with the owner of the base of the wall. Since then I have had periods of climbing very little, at least sport climbing, and last year I started to climb a lot again. I managed to send some projects near home and this one was on my list for winter.