Linda Sjödin from 8A to New Base Line 8B+

Linda Sjödin has made some kind of record in grade progress going from 8A to do New Base Line 8B+ in Magic Wood. Remarkably to say the least as there are less than a dozen female that have reached that grade. Please give us your climbing background? I first started climbing in 2011 at age 19 but quite irregularly. In 2015 I started climbing more consistently and trained to perform better on the wall. How important is climbing in your life now? For a long time, I’ve identified myself primarily as a medicine student who likes climbing but the last couple of years climbing has become a bigger part of my life and who I am. Last year I took a break from med. school to focus on climbing, so there’s been a lot of climbing lately. How many sessions did NBL take and how much specific training? I didn’t count the sessions but probably around 15. Looking back, it would have been wiser to skip some of them and just climb something else. Starting a project at the beginning of the summer wasn’t the smartest decision, I’ve had too many bad sessions where it was just too warm, sunny or humid to climb at that level. I tried sending at 2 AM to get cooler temps but I’m really not a night person so that didn’t work out very well. I trained a lot but nothing specifically for New Base Line. What about comps next year and how do you train? I haven’t decided if I want to do comps or not next year. I mainly just climb and try to focus on improving my technique. What is your next plan? I’ll be home for a couple of months and then hopefully off to Brione and Albarracin and home again in January to get back to med school, but nothing is set in stone yet. (c) Åke Rosén