Svana Bjarnson sends Mind Control (8c)

Svana Bjarnson, who has led the restoration program of Oliana after the wildfire in June has sent Mind Control (8c). This was her second 8c after she did Fish eye (8c) last year, also in Oliana.

Can you tell us more about Mind Control?
I was projecting that route last year and was super close to doing it in June. I actually fell a few moves below the anchor two days before the fire. So, obviously, that route had a special place in my heart and, when we started rebuilding the crag. It was the first one I cleaned, changed quickdraws and broke unstable flakes on. The good news is the route was not altered. I broke some foot holds and a massive flake just above the anchor had to brush the ashes layer quite a few times but the climb didn’t change. So, after about two months of working at the crag, I could start having goes on the route again, in between two jumaring sessions. I quickly understood that jumaring, breaking holds, swapping quickdraws and rebolting were not the best restful rest day. So, in January and February, I tried to do less tiring work at the crag and more administrative stuff to try and send my project. Lots of ups and downs because I felt really strong and ready to send. But the route got soaked because of rainy days and key holds at the very top of the route stayed wet for 4 weeks. At the same moment, I injured a pulley so I lost a lot of finger strength. Lucky for me, I was not really crimping on Mind Control so I could still climb on it.

After a 10 days break where I had to be in France, I hopped back on the route feeling super motivated but I ended up mentally failing. I had the sensation of “overdosing” (because it was the only thing I could climb on with my finger), I felt too much pressure (from myself) and I simply wasn’t enjoying climbing on it anymore. After 2 weeks I had my worst goes ever on the route. I climbed with the worst sensations. So, that day, I decided to take a break from it, start a new training cycle and focus on healing my finger. Two days later they had forecast a massive storm so I decided to get back on the route one last time, in order to “say goodbye”, in a way. In my mind, I had already made the decision to not try to send anymore so I started climbing feeling free and happy to do the moves one last time.

With that mindset everything suddenly felt easy and so enjoyable. And it worked. I cruised the route, I felt like I could have climbed it twice in a row. I was definitely not stronger that day than two days before but the different mindset changed everything! That’s how you realize the mental game is so important in climbing. Now that I sent it, I’m super excited to find myself a new project but first I want to try and finish the work we’ve started there. So the next weeks/months will be filled with training sessions and a lot of cleaning/rebolting!