Martina Cufar Potard, 48, ticks Parasite 8b (+)

Martina Cufar Potard, Lead World Champion in 2001, has done Parasite (8b+) in Foron, commenting it is probably 8b. The 48-year-old was the first Slovenian to win an IFSC senior competition, and since then, the country—with 2 million inhabitants—has won another 100 such golds.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
It is a line that traverses the cliff of Foron from right to left, crossing six routes—about 120 moves—but none of them are extremely hard. You just need to deal with pumped forearms. There is definitely a crux just before joining the last route, but it's on crimps, and that suits me. I did it on my third day. I had to put much more effort into Bouffadou, a roughly 20-move-long 8b that I did last year—it took me more than 20 attempts, I think :-)

How is your daily climbing life nowadays?
I’m still really motivated, and I try to find time for climbing between the kids (who don’t really like climbing), my work as a massage therapist, and also as a climbing instructor. I manage to climb three to four times a week. I still have some 8b’s to do around Chamonix, but it’s often complicated with the conditions. First it’s wet, then it’s too hot... but in general, I prefer when it’s too hot rather than too cold—I have problems with cold fingers. Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of easy multipitch climbing with friends. I enjoy it, and we’re often surprised by the grades from the ’80s... a 6a can be hard!

What is the biggest change on the comp scene since you were active?
Haha... it's much more dynamic now! I found a videotape of my victory in Chamonix in 2001. It’s so boring to watch—I was going up and down I don’t know how many times before deciding how to continue. I had 12 minutes for the route and almost ran out of time. You can’t do that nowadays on the huge slopers! And there were no coordination moves or jumps. I’m happy I competed 20 years ago and didn’t have to do risky jumps in the middle of a route!