Advertorial: Speed, bouldering and rope climbing: the recent evolutions in sports climbing require products that are increasingly dedicated to each discipline. Let's find out.

Sport climbing is a relatively recent sport. Already in the early 1970s, climbers were moving on the rock of the great American walls and of the Dolomites, using the first shoes that companies such as La Sportiva had begun to offer to the market instead of the classic sturdy and heavy mountaineering boots. The introduction of new soles in the next few years accelerated the evolution of climbing together with the new construction systems that supported and often, anticipated the requests of increasingly demanding climbers who passed from classic rock climbing to new forms of climbing.

Climbing shoes are the most important accessory for climbers and consequently have had to change shape, look and performance levels with the evolution of the discipline. Or rather, of the 3 main disciplines that make up the world of climbing today:

SOLUTION COMP: THE PERFECT SOLUTION FOR ROPE CLIMBING (LEAD CLIMBING)
The natural evolution of a model originally created for bouldering, Solution Comp is the climbing shoe designed today for maximum performance in competition, particularly suitable for competitions on indoor surfaces.

THEORY: THE EVOLUTION OF THE BOULDER SPECIES
The indoor performance shoe designed for perfect adaptation to the new shapes of grips and volumes of indoor climbing.

COBRA 4:99: THE SHOE FOR SPEED CLIMBING
Each element of the Vibram XS Grip2 sole and upper is reduced to a minimum for maximum speed and lightweight at the service of sprinters with a heat-sealed toe cover element to facilitate sliding in contact with the grips.

Laura Rogora reports on Insta that she has repeated Stefano Ghisolfi's Terapia d'urto 9a+ in Padaro.
(c) Sara Grippo

The 19-year-old has now done 19 routes 8c+/9a to 9b, meaning she is superior among the female. As a competition climber, the 153 cm tall, won three golds in the Youth World Champion and in 2020, she qualified for the Olympics in Tokyo.

Adam Ondra exlains his strategy of working out Perfectu Mundo 9b+. "I set myself challenges trying the route from a certain point and then going to the top of the route... I would just climb up to the 5th bolt, take a good rest while hanging in the rope and start my “attempt”."

Nicolai Uznik from Austria and Mailys Piazzalunga from France won the first European Cup in 2021, held in Klagenfurt. Both were, climbing-wise, quite superior in the final and Uznik also won the semi. Uznik, who did two 8C's last month, lives only 15 minutes from the gym.

"I must admit I was pretty nervous especially before the semifinals. It was difficult to stay focused and because climbing at home makes you wanna show your best performance even more! I‘m so glad it worked out. The route setting overall was good except maybe the semifinal round was a bit too hard. The finals I enjoyed the most, really cool boulders and also kind of my style!" Besides Uznik, it seemed like a disadvantage to start last in a bouldering round. None of the only three males to top all four in the qually, including Jakob Schubert, made it to the final. Among the females, it was pretty much the same in both semi and the final. The two best in the semi, Franziska Sterrer and Leonie Lochner, who also started last in the final, were the two last in the final.

Why do you think it is like this and how did you handle this?
I think in this situation you need to stay calm and show strong nerves. Many climbers feel like it‘s easier for them to climb in finals if they are not leading but for me, I must say it‘s different. I like coming out last because it gives me more confidence!

It can be mentioned that Uznik, even if he won the semi, did just manage to do one boulder and that you made it to the final by just doing four zones. Overall, only three climbers were able to reach all zones. In other words, when Schubert started last out in the semi, as he won the qualification, the holds had probably been used like 100 times each meaning that the friction might have been worse for him.

Maja Jonjic, who previously has done three 8A+'s, reports on Insta, with a video, that she has done her first 8B, El Guanche in Tenerife. In total, it took her more than 10 sessions to send. During the last fee years, the 27-year-old only climbed outdoors about once a week, but since last July, she has only climbed on rock.

JonathanSiegrist has made the first repeat of Joe Kinder's The Activator in Hurricave. "Hard as hell for me. I could conjure some excuses but in short it just felt hard!! 9a/+ for me no question. Wet chalk FTW!!" (c) Rachel Galipo

On Insta he continues his thoughts. "If my goal is to be challenged and to improve, why not be open to every lesson? If it truly was ‘easy’, it wouldn’t be hard would it! The moment we start assuming that everything will be easy is the moment we shut ourselves off to learning."

In total, the 35-year-old has done 53 routes 9a to 9b meaning he is #6 in the All-Time 9a list.

Killian Chabrier has done Alban Levier's La Force just outside Fontainebleau, which with 35 moves previously have been graded; 9a route, 8C+ traverse or 8C boulder. (8a try to differentiate traverse gradings by saying 8Cc+).

"I started trying the different parts of this line two years ago. I did l’Acte 1 (8A), l’Acte 2 (8B) and Morpheus (7C+) in approximately five sessions but didn’t feel endure enough to link it all. Last year, I ripped a bit of my biceps on the twist of l’Acte 2, and decided to take a break to try other boulders. This year I wanted to try Quoi de Neuf (8C) which I did quickly on my second session, and the next step was La Force. It took me three more sessions to send it, falling three times on the last sketchy move where you have to jump to the crack. It’s for sure the best line of the Toit d’Orsay, and for the grade, I don’t have enough experience in lead or in traverse in this grade, so I’ll just trust the previous climbers for the 9a lead grade and the 8C+ traverse grade."

Anghelo Bernal has done his first 9a, Victimes del Futur in Margalef. The Colombian has lived in Margalef since 2016 (when 8a+ was his PB) and he works in the El Pont campsite. Article from March when he did his first 8c+/9a. (c) Eduardo Ruano Lin

"The first attempts at Victimes del Futur was done in the fall of 2019 and until the fall of 2020 I had not been able to give any good tries. The pandemic confinement affected me physically and last spring I did not feel well. This spring I only needed about ten attempts to do it, although last fall I did spend a lot of time on the route. I am very happy to fulfil this dream of being the first Colombian to reach the 9th grade and I hope to be able to fulfil all the goals that I have set for myself in the future."

So what are your future goals?
For now, continue climbing enjoying the most and being able to do other routes of the same level, also when I was a child and still did not know climbing I was always writing 5.15 (9a+) which is the date of my birthday May, 15 and when I started climbing I realized what 9a+ is so I would like to follow my instincts and find a route of this level.