Thomas Salakenos ticks his first 8C!

Thomas Salakenos has done Foundations Edge (8C) in Fionnay. This was the first 8C for the 29-year-old who the last two weeks has been in Magic Wood where he did three 8B's and his second 8B+. (c) Samuel Weir

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
On my way home [from Magic Wood] I made a quick stop at Fionnay. So Friday evening, after 6 hours of driving, I had my 1st Sess in Fundation’s Edge, a boulder I had my eyes on for a long 👀 I knew the boulder from videos and with few adjustments, I needed 50 minutes of an intense session to unlock everything. The wall is steep and moves are powerful, so I was done for that day, already empty. I filmed the whole Sess, so I could visualise everything again.

On Saturday, I took a long time to warm-up, touching holds, a few pull-ups and mobilisation on the pads. I did a few moves, not the hardest ones, and immediately felt that I could do it that day. The pressure was on. I knew it would come down to small details, about not wasting energy, keeping my head cool, and also a touch of luck. After a really close call on my 2nd go, it all came together on my 6th go from the ground. The final part of the boulder is high but easy on jugs so I enjoyed every moment of it. All in all, 2 sessions (each around ~ 1 hour) in <24h were enough to climb my hardest boulder yet 😳 Crazy! I was amazed by Fionnay and really look forward to going back.

How can you explain being in peak performance?
I trained more, with higher intensity. For 1.5 months I’ve had a way better life health. But the biggest change is my way to face the problems. I think way more about what matters, the small details, and strategic choices at the boulder. I film every try and try to analyse the betas and movements. More focus etc… Also, I did a big specific preparation, heavy pull-ups, finger lifting etc. A lot of board training lately, Moon, Kilter and a very hard taped project on the spray wall. I’m way more organised than before on my trip, trying to do few lower grades which I really want to do to keep psyched between sessions in harder projects, otherwise, you just fail! Also, I feel in really good shape but not way more than usual, I would just say that this trip has been very successful, so more confidence and a positive circle, confidence boost etc.