Fabrice Landry does Chicken deluxe (9a+)

Fabrice Landry, who did his first 8c in 2020 at age 29, has done Chicken Deluxe (9a+) in Saint-Antonin. The route was put up with 17 sika holds as an 8c+ but all but two have since been removed. (c) Arthur Delicque

”Chicken deluxe is an old route freed by Eric Siguier more than 20 years ago with many sika holds. Two years ago, my friend Lucien Martinez tried it and broke some sika holds. The idea of naturalizing the route came naturally with the agreement of the team members. It took us a few sessions to dissect the new sections and re-equip some passages. Last November, Lucien succeeded in clearing the new route. As far as I'm concerned, I had to wait for the return of sunny days and milder conditions than in winter to get out of the way. We were very hesitant about the proposal to 9a+, so we took the side of caution. Even so, we are convinced that it is a very difficult 9a+. There are now enough challenging routes at the crag to interest the strongest climbers, more than 8 lines in the 9th grade, some variants and some projects.”

What is your next plan?
A little rest to start and then repeat "A la limite de la Rupture" (9a), release the last two remaining projects, "Destrucion Masiva" (9a/+?) and "Arqueur Vaillant" (9b?).


Is it fair to call you a late bloomer seeing as how you did your first 9a at age 29?
The story is that I stopped climbing for 5/6 years and then I came back quietly and it was only very recently that I enjoyed climbing difficult routes. I had a need to enjoy life other than through competitions, studies and everything else to finally come back to it a few years later but with a very different approach. Today, the main objective is to develop a high level locally by enjoying and without constraints or commitments, just the pleasure. Let's hope it motivates some strong climbers to come!