20
Questions
Describe your climbing background.
Conan Dax Librarian 8a (Araotz) was my first 5.13
route. I was then 14 years old and it made me really
feel the difficulty inside of myself. This route
was one of the most important at the time in order
to know what was rock climbing and to try to evolve.
Il Domani 9a (Baltzola) was the first route
where I did clean a 5.15. It was equipped by myself
with some help and it turned out to be totally
on natural holds. Besides, after several unsuccessful
tries along a fall, it made me change my mind and
I started to train daily more motivated to achieve
these goals, these amazing lines.
At last, Biographie 5.15a+ proved my own progression
and it’s a futuristic route located on one
of the best lines on amazing, excellent quality
rock.
Was there a big breakthrough or defining moment
for you?
Of course there were several, but the most
important happened in the fall 2002. By that time
I had climbed during a full year doing clean all
what I could, but even so I needed an improvement
of quality. I wanted to climb faster those routes
and ameliorate my level…the change was obvious,
my mind turned to be more ambitious and motivated
as ever, and the destiny was to train 100 % harder
giving everything of myself towards unattainable
goals to that moment and available to me.
Describe a memorable climbing experience.
To me, all the time I climb is memorable, full
of sensations and lessons. Climbing, training and
exploring my limits are the things I enjoy the
most.
What
are you up to when you’re not climbing?
When
I’ve got left time over I play with
my imagination in the kitchen inventing recipes.
That’s why I’m not sure if my destiny
is climbing or “high class cooking”.
Any training advice or suggestions?
First
of all and before anything, you need to have
fun with what you do. In addition, you need to
have attainable goals that won’t frustrate
your hope and once you get this, if you train,
do it seriously.
Who or what inspires you?
I admire all the people that have worked very
hard, with a lot of energy and against many adversities
who have fulfilled their dreams.
How do you see climbing evolving in the next
five years?
It
has evolved a lot very quickly without having
the chance to settle down. There are a lot of 5.15,
a lot of on sights and therefore, I believe that
it’ll follow the same path and difficulty
will reach extraordinary levels.
What do you think about the 5.15 grade?
The
5.15 grade is something real, very hard and at
the same time something precious. It’s
a difficulty which will continue to improve together
with climbing evolution, climbers, training techniques
and mentality.
Care to comment on: pre-clipping more than one
draw on sport routes or pre-placed gear on trad
routes, clipping/ comfortizing holds, glue vs.
no glue?
First
of all, I’d like to point out that
sport climbing has to be safe. Sometimes it’s
essential to have a couple of pre-clipped draws
in the first part of a route due to its location.
Most of the times these draws are clipped thanks
to a stick-clip or when you pull down the rope.
But some other times, I’ve seen people with
three, four or some more pre-clipped draws not
because the danger, but because they’re impossible
physically or psychologically to do the route
clean…I repudiate that, it’s not in
my philosophy.
On
the other hand, for example, when you do clean
a difficult route and you clip in all the draws,
you feel more accomplish. Nowadays almost all the
routes are pre-clipped to make the climb easier
or to ease the end of the day (it’s almost
harder to pick up the draws than to climb the route).
That’s why 99% of climbs are pre-clipped.
And
about the matter of natural or artificial holds,
of course I would like that all routes would
be natural, but that’s not possible all
the time. Rock isn’t always the same, not
always it’s possible to climb on rock,
rock quality changes, etc…and therefore,
artificial holds are essential. You try to keep
a harmony with the rock and always look for the
most natural holds…but
you need to wonder where the limit is…where
do you go from natural to artificial…imagine
a route with the following conditions: painful
holds, spiky holds, etc…that route will
have few ascents; now imagine this one: well finish,
well filed down holds, glue reinforced breakable
edges etc…that route will have 75% more ascents
than the other one. That’s why you
need to be realistic, climbing has evolved a lot
thanks to technology and using it will still help
to evolve.
A
very important example is Biographie 5.15 a+
is a route we think is natural, but what would
it be without its comfortizing holds so they don’t
hurt or the third hold of the route (which is a
small sharp pick) without an exterior glue reinforcement?
First of all, the route would have broken (the
sharp pick), and in the other hand, the attempts
would decrease due to muscle tissue injuries…
Do you have any vices and what are they?
Beer, fruits and cookies, how tasty!
Any near death experiences?
Nooooooooo,
well only a small fright on my first climbing
day. It was in Atxarte, a crag close from home.
I was 10 years old and I had 0 years of experience.
I went with a friend to a trad route, Naufragos
nocturnes V (5.9) and just before the first belay
I almost flew while my friend was looking at me
and my dad was doing it too from the ground…Ah,
and another time I had a fall of 7 metres in Frankenjura.
The belayer made a mistake and “catapun”…I
was lucky to fall over a German guy “crashpad” instead
of a rock…but I almost was in trouble with
the German guy whom I had to thank very politely
afterwards for being there at that precise moment…
Are you a fan of climbing history? Explain?
Only
a little bit since I’m more interested
by reality, the moment right away and the evolution
of climbing. Although, I’m curious about
certain activities done along the history, I don’t
really know a lot about climbing history.
What are your future plans or goals in climbing?
To
give a 100% of my person together with the people
I love around me. If I accomplish this, I’m sure I’ll
evolve sporty facing until now unattainable goals.
