Luke Zimmerman sets PB at 44 with 8B+

Luke Zimmerman, who hasn’t climbed anything harder than 8A in the past five years, has completed North Ridge (8B+) in Squamish.

Can you tell us more about the ascent and the process behind your PB?
V14 [8B+] was a grade that didn’t even exist when I started climbing almost 30 years ago, and never something I thought was a realistic goal for me.

I was actually self-conscious talking about it. I felt like I had to explain to people I wasn’t really expecting to send and that I was just enjoying the process of learning and making progress, which was true. I had decided that where I’m at in my climbing, I was motivated to try something with an upper limit beyond me, and I would have been satisfied putting in tons of effort and just making some big links.

The climb breaks down as 3 stacked v10 [7C+] boulder problems in a row, with a bad rest on a kneebar before the final one. Due to its style I was able to use a lot of tactics and find ways to eke out small improvements and continuously make progress, despite setbacks from injuries etc. 2 years ago, when I first started trying it, I would have sessions where I couldn't link more than a move or two together and it just seemed impossible. By just continuously showing up, putting the time in, as well as optimizing my training and nutrition, it started to seem possible.

50+ sessions later, all the work and preparation finally came together and I had that one go where everything went perfectly. Climbing is definitely a cool sport. It's incredible how much experience, tactics and most of all perseverance matter over just being young and strong.