8 April 2021

The Nest 8C by Jon Glassberg

Jon Glassberg who previously has done 32 8B's but just one 8B+, in 2017, has done his first 8C, The Nest in First Creek. With 86 kg and 191 cm, the 36-year-old should be one of the biggest climbers having done 8C. (c) Jess Talley from Louderthan11

"I’ve been climbing for 26 years and when I started in 1994, the grade hadn’t been proposed yet. In 2000 Fred Nicole did Dreamtime calling it 8C and the Story of Two Worlds in 2005 by Dave Graham became the first confirmed 8C. I imagined that grade to be reserved for the best of the best who could dedicate 100% of their time and effort to achieve the goal, definitely not for me to ever realize.

In 2017 I decided I was going to give 8C/V15 a shot and train, diet, and prepare as best I could for the one 8C that might just be “my style” and suit me well enough to go down. I thought it was “The Big Island” in Fontainebleau and I started to siege over the course of 4 trips resulting in a couple of herniated discs in my lower back and a 2-year recovery that is still ongoing. I gave up for a while, thinking my 190lb 6’3” (86 kg and 191 cm) frame wasn’t built for 8C/V15.

After a research trip to Red Rock this past December I made quick work of The Nest Stand, a V13 in its own right and thought that adding a V11 into the stand seemed like something I could train for and maybe actually do one day. I invested 3 months of power endurance training and campusing and headed to Red Rock to begin the process no matter how long it took. After 9 sessions of incremental progress, it was DONE and I was on top, in shock. I came prepared and executed without an epic and it felt good.

I knew this boulder fit me well and I am pretty good at power endurance. The climb for me breaks down into V11 into V13 so the grade certainly feels like a massive step up for me in overall difficulty but I have never been this prepared. During COVID I had extra time to train and focus on climbing so I put that new found strength to the test on my dream project and it all came together."
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