The Big Island 8C by Thijs van Delden

Thijs van Delden reports on Insta that he has done The Big Island (8C) in Fontainebleau, projecting it for a dozen or so sessions.

Can you tell us more about this send and your climbing background?
Last year I started trying the Big Island, although it's not completely my style, I felt that it was possible and started to devote some more time to it. In January I stayed in Font for almost three weeks which enabled me to try when the conditions were good. In my experience, climbing hard in Font is 50% being strong and 50% having good conditions. Luckily this trip both were right, and I managed to climb my first 8C, something which I am rather fond (proud) of!

I have been climbing since I am 12, so around 10 years, first I focused on comps but later I changed course and only trained for outdoors. This was mainly due to a shift in preference. In addition, my experience with comps was that it takes a lot of time and preparation whereas outdoors you can still train effectively and make progress while allocating much less time. This allowed me to focus on other things besides climbing, such as studying, reading, working, and playing chess. During the week I mostly train 5-6 times a week, somewhere between 1.5 to 2 hours a session. I often climb on the Kilterboard or spray wall, depending on my goals I also do some strength exercises such as weighted pull-ups and rings. I can do this all at Keiboulderhal, a climbing gym five minutes from home, which makes training very easy and efficient!

Currently, I am writing my thesis and doing a full-time internship at Deloitte, so there is not much climbing in the upcoming months, unfortunately.