#climbing #rockclimbing #sportclimbing

Transilvania 8a, Margalef

When it comes to sport climbing (this is how I started climbing), I typically approach it in a way that allows me to have a good day out, meaning that I usually go for onsights, 2nd goes or day projects at most.

However, at the end of last year, I felt keen enough to try something a bit harder. I felt strong on the board and relatively fit at the time, so I thought that trying an 8a route would be a great challenge.

It wasn't the first time that I had booked a trip and organised my training around a specific goal, but it was the first time that I was doing that for a route.

Last year I went to Ticino and I tried to break into the 8th grade in bouldering, but I failed to do so. This was heartbreaking for me, as it had been a life goal of mine to achieve this before turning 30. This experience nevertheless helped me for one, to manage my expectations and for two, to grow as a climber.

This January, when we set off to Margalef, I knew that I was also at risk of coming back home empty handed, as a week long trip isn't a big time window overall, especially when you take into account travel, rest days and possible bad weather.

In a way I was going through the same nerves and mindset as in Switzerland, but this time I knew that it is 'fine' to come back home without the tick. That's the nature of putting all your eggs in one basket. Being able to actually understand this though, definitely took some pressure off.

I luckily got to clip the chains of the route on my third redpoint, after two days of working it. Deep down I know that it could had taken me longer, and that I could had possibly not climbed the route at all, which puts in perspective how little leverage for error I felt I had.

Reflecting on it now after a few months, I guess I can say that the training I did pre trip paid off, which helped to validate the effort invested.

After these two years, both experiences I had had a positive effect on my climbing.

Possibly the first one was more significant, as I came back home feeling that I had let myself down. Although this felt rough at first, I used it as a catalyst to rediscover climbing and retake my sport climbing journey.

Managing to climb this 8a route in Margalef and more specifically the journey towards it, has totally transform my climbing. Funnily enough the send itself has only served as tailwind for training motivation since then.

Now I can only look forward to more learning curves and to all the climbing that's yet to come.

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Camara gear I use:
Canon M50 mirrorless: [ Ссылка ]
Rode Videomicro compact on camera microphone: [ Ссылка ]
GoPro Hero 9: [ Ссылка ]
Octopus tripod for camera: [ Ссылка ]

Drone:
Mavic Mini: [ Ссылка ]

Climbing gear I like:
Approach shoes: [ Ссылка ]
Prana mojo shorts: [ Ссылка ]
Timestamps:

0:00 - 1:27 Intro
1:27 - 3:32 Preparation
3:32 - 5:05 The first day
5:05 - 5:52 The second day
5:52 - 6:35 The rest day
6:35 - 8:40 The redpoint day
8:40 - 10:03 Transilvania
10:03 - 11:03 The crux
11:03 - 13:05 Good rest
13:05 - 16:06 Second half of the route
16:06 - 16:27 Outro

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