Oriane Bertone does Gaïa (8A+)

Oriane Bertone, who was #8 in the Paris Olympics, has done Gaïa (accroupi) (8A+) in Fontainebleau, video. This was the first 8A+ in two years for the 19-year-old, who won silver at the 2023 World Championship and has placed in the Top 8 in eleven World Cups. Overall, the French climber has completed 16 boulders graded 8B or 8B+, all between the ages of 11 and 15.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I started trying this boulder a few weeks ago, when it was still pretty cold in Font. I put three sessions in the boulder in total; I did the stand in just a few tries (first sesh) and decided to try the low : I went back for one session in the cold (that was not very productive) and one session a few days ago with the sun and an higher temperature, and managed to do it in just a few tries :)

As you know, I’m not a very active outside climber when winter’s here, so I had to wait a little bit for some higher temperatures to arrive 😝

What have you been up to after the Paris Olympics and what are the 2025 plans?
After the games I stopped climbing for almost two months, I felt like I needed a lot more rest than I ever did, and took some time to think about the future and rest my mind and body ☺️ So now I’m back, not as strong as before for the moment but I’m slowly getting better and back at it 👊👊

For 2025, probably and hopefully some more outside climbing and a few comps too, but in short I’m gonna be concentrating on doing things I want to do and enjoy. No comps I specially want to attend for the moment, but it’ll be specified soon ☺️