Graham (40) does 4-Lo (8C) and keeps shining (like a crystal)

David Graham has recently turned 40, but he is climbing better than ever. On Insta he just reported that he did the second ascent of Daniel Wood's 4-Lo, 8C. Next season he says he is going for 9A. ”I'm very close on a few problems! Notably, one project which could be 8C+, Rustica, 8C as well as a few others 8B+/C.

How can you still progress after 20+ years as a pro climber?
I feel stronger honestly! 😅😅😅, 🤔🤔🤔. Not sure why?? Maybe smarter??? Healthier lifestyle. Ah just eating better, no partying, lots of good rest!! Better attitude about climbing, more patient and also less concerned with conditions. Always finding new solutions, not getting angry. In the past, I would get much more frustrated when I would fail or not do well. These days I think I'm so used to failing that I'm surprised when I succeed. I do boulders that are really my antistyle too. So I assume they should be hard but I think it really helped my mental game, to push longer and harder. Never get pissed, it is not wise!!! I am feeling strong!! But four months of trying hard has been tough, I took the last two weeks kind of easy as the weather was finally bad 😅🤣

What is next?
Hoping to finish strong this last month. I climb 5 or 6 days out of 7 often. We had such perfect weather!! I am also trying some very sick projects. There's just so much to do here, this season is a good start at catching up. I have just a few more hard ones in Bavona to complete then, I'm on to new things.
I'm hoping to buy a home here in Ticino and someday I would like to be a pro crystal hunter, haha. My hobby is searching for crystals and minerals!! You can do it professionally too!! It makes for 🤪 very good active rest days. I love it !!!!! Keeps me sane! And thinking!!! Gotta be sharp!! And you learn a lot about geology and SAFETY hahaha. Like, don't do stupid shit!! I will start searching next week We dig holes in the ground.

(It should be mentioned that this interview is put together from a chat. Once you get the wizard going, you get at least 10 messages a minute. There's nobody even close to being able to push "Enter" that often. It is very hard to keep up filling in with "likes", "why" and "how do you mean" etc. If he gets passionate about something, you just try to hang on to that roller coaster.

On a personal note, my best flash ever was done when he fooled me into trying a 7c that was my anti-style. I was just going to check out the moves... then Dave got into his "Enter" mode and started shouting beta and telling me and the whole crowd that I can do it. I do remember hitting the one finger pocket almost dynamic, realizing it is very shallow. From that point I am blank but I still remember clipping the anchor and directly understanding that I had injured that finger. This happened in Kalymnos and I could not climb for the next five days, but I couldn't stop grinning!/Jens Larssen)