Pioneer Bernd Zangerl critical towards the modern 2.0 scene

Bernd Zangerl is one of the first famous boulderers. He opened many of the early hard core problems in Ticino and especially Magic Woods including two 8C+'s that nowadays are considered 8B+. UKC has made a new interview with the profile of Bernd, currently living and exploring boulders in the Himalaya. In general, the pioneer is very critical towards the modern 2.0 scene and the article finishes in this way: "There is high pressure in the outdoor industry, so there is also high pressure within the sport itself. Nowadays it's more important to wear the right clothes of the right brand with the right colours. You have to visit the "bouldering hot spots“ of the world and share your private moments on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Some athletes spend more time on social media, than on the rocks, because the smart use of various media channels, particularly web 2.0, enables almost everyone to reach a certain reputation by merely spending a few hours per day on the web. This was definitely not the case ten years ago." In the UKC article he is also critical towards grades and how the community deals with them, which he also said in an 8a article in 2011. He has stated that the reason for why his grades were inflated was because the first repeaters just kept confirming his initial FA grades. Here is a greatvideo of the FA of Shantaram 8C/+ outside Trondheim. The picture by © Ray Demski/Red Bull Content Pool is from Die Versorgungslinie, which he did this autumn. No FA grade but Bernd says it is his hardest ever and it was done as a five year long ground up project that took 150 tries. Other quotes from the outspoken great pioneer. - I want to mention that I don't support those "training camps“, where seven year old kids are following a training programme! - With the notion of „personal grading“ the rating has lost its original purpose, anyway. - In the end I (and also Fred Nicole) were indicted for inflation, for using overblown grades. - Depending on who is grading, or more importantly downgrading a problem, we accept the grade without any further discussions. The achievement of 11-year old Ashima Shiraishi climbing 8B boulders seems less important for the community. Why? Is she a special case of climber, because of her age or weight, her finger-size? But Ondra for example also has very specific physical preconditions, clearly differing from the average climber. Adam for sure can downgrade for example “Shantaram”, skipping two crux moves because of his extraordinary ape index. I am interested in their grade suggestions, but which weight should it be attributed to in the public? Is the “brave” repeater the only voice which holds true? For me “Shantaram” is one of the biggest highlights of my climbing career. It's an extraordinary climb and way harder than anything else I did before. (Personal grade: 8C/8C+)