Graham Owens ticks Estado Critico (9a) and more

Graham Owens has spent the last month in Siurana where his highlights have been onsighting Cronica (8b) and redpointing Estado critico (9a) and Pati noso (8c+). ”4th go. Flash pump of doom. 8c/+ maybe?”

Can you tell us more about Estado Critico and your injury background?
In Summer 2025 I was feeling stronger and fitter than ever, with lots of big goals for the year ahead. Namely, I knew I planned to take a semester off from school in the spring, and had tons of hard boulders and routes in mind. In July though, I had a freak accident where I decked sport climbing and fractured my ankle in several places. I needed surgery, couldn’t walk for over a month, or fit on my climbing shoe for another month or two thereafter. Once mostly recovered, I started training hard again, but promptly developed an overuse pulley injury. It turned out to stick around for much longer than expected, and when I still couldn’t crimp hard in January, I considered canceling all of my plans and going back to school. Fortunately, friends and family helped me stay sane, and I decided to go for it.

Once I got to Spain in February with my finger starting to feel better, Estado caught my eye immediately. It’s an incredible line that I had seen videos of for many years, and lots of other cool and strong people were trying it. At first my fitness was still lacking after so long without training hard, so I couldn’t try it more than once a day and focused on making links. Slowly I started to feel more confident though and pushed through the bottom boulder, then fell off the last few moves a couple of times, and then sent! Full disclosure, I used the new left kneebar on the headwall which allows for a brief, intense shakeout before the last few moves. It’s far from full recovery and replaces another optional rest a few moves prior, so I personally doubt it changes the grade. Those with freak endurance might find the route easy regardless, but that definitely wasn’t me, haha.

What is next?
We have two more weeks in Spain and I think we’ll spend them in Margalef. After that hopefully I can hit St Leger and Arco too. Lots of other hard routes in mind! Trying to take advantage before I’m stuck in school again 😂

Returning in May once my visa runs out, not sure from where. School is my main focus alongside climbing; I study International Relations at UPenn and am hoping to attend law school.