20 October 2016
First 8c+ by Neil Gresham (45)
Neil Gresham, a well-known trainer for the last 20 years, has done his first 8c+, Sabotage in Malham. ยฉ Ian Parnell Photography
"I guess I've reached a peak in sport climbing in my mid forties because I didn't really do any sport climbing in my thirties - I was just going adventuring and doing trad, ice DWS, and so on. I pushed my sport climbing pretty hard in my early twenties but training methods and facilities were primitive back then and I used to get injured quite a lot. There were also way less routes to choose from back in the early 90s and most of the routes in the high F8s were short and powerful and didn't really suit me.
I've been pretty structured in terms of applying a very specific focus on my projects. Both Sabotage and Freakshow (my 8c at Kilnsey last year) had moves that I couldn't do, so I had to gain the specific strength for them (by doing replica blocs and working the same finger grips on a hangboard etc) and I also trained endurance at the same angle, style and intensity as the routes. As for 9a, it isn't a goal unless my next project at Kilnsey turns out to be 9a, in which case I will square up to it!"
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