Iker Pou (41) 9b interview

Last week Iker Pou did the FA of Artaburu in Margalef. In his words the route is by far the hardest he ever climbed but he never graded it. Now he says it is probably 9b but as such type of finger pockets is his strength, "it just might be harder."©Jordi Canyi When did you bolt Artaburu? I bolted the line in November 2012. I just tried it a little but couldn't do many moves... :) Did you try it a lot or you also trained specifically? It took me a lot of effort. I have tried the route every year when I could but I took it seriously in 2016. In both 2017 and 2018 I was close to send it but it didn't happen. Then recently I felt fitter and knowing the moves perfectly I did it. I have trained myself as usual but I did little changes. I did many meters outdoors but this year I went a lot of days to the gym Es Cau in Palma de Mallorca spending a couple of hours on the moonboard, after climbing outdoors. And in fact it worked cause I was stronger than ever. Do you feel stronger being 41? To be honest I feel really good, fit and maybe stronger than ever. The biggest difference is that I have to rest much more days than when I was younger but when I have a good day I see myself experienced and looseness (old dog!). The clue was train on plastic and lose 2kg. Have you plans for harder routes? Currently I don't have plans to try something really hard. I just want to stop sport climbing for a while and do some alpinism that motivates me a lot. Soon I will be psyched again to climb hard. Maybe if I find a cool line I will get focus onto it but now I need adventure and less sport climbs.