Nomadic life of an elite climber

Jorge Díaz Rullo discovered climbing shortly after his 12th birthday, the day he was taken to a small fish market that had been converted to house a climbing structure.

He was not passionate about it.

Rooms like the one in which the young Vallecano began exist throughout the country: several friends get together, rent a cheap place, clean it up and refurbish it to create a craft bouldering room, its walls lined with conglomerate panels plagued with screwed dams. .

There's not even enough height to use a rope.

There's no need to, it's about training alone.

Jorge Díaz Rullo played soccer at the time, but little by little, during his visits to the fish market, he became hooked “to the core”.

If there was no glamor in his discovery, now that he has become one of the strongest rock climbers on the planet, Díaz Rullo's sporting life is still not bathed in glitter.

His thing is work.

A climbing worker.

Eight months a year, at least, this 22-year-old lives in his van, parked in a parking lot next to one of his favorite climbing schools.

The other great Spanish climber of the moment, Alberto Ginés, the first Olympic gold medalist in the history of climbing, resides in the Sant Cugat CAR and his resounding and unexpected success has changed his life.

Díaz Rullo is not complaining: little by little he has been accumulating sponsors, some of the stature of the Italian manufacturer of mountain and climbing footwear Scarpa.

“Currently I live from the help of my brands, and I am also part of the SoulClimb team,

a climbing wall in Leganés, where I work as an outfitter and usually do some activities.

It is somehow like my home, apart from my parents' house in Madrid, where I return to recharge, sleep warm with the luxuries that a house has and of course, to receive the love of my family ", bill.

If Alberto Ginés is totally focused on competition (it occurs in artificial resin structures), Díaz Rullo lives obsessed with rock.

In fact, his list of chains is impressive: he already has several routes of difficulty 9b (the degree of complexity rises as the numbers and letters a, b and c advance).

The highest difficulty ever reached by human beings is 9c, an honor for the Czech Adam Ondra, achieved in 2017. In 2020, the German Alex Megos proposed a difficulty of 9c for the Bibliographie route, but a year later the Italian Stefano Ghisolfi resolved likewise the route and lowered it to 9b+.

Díaz Rullo also tried the route, but being in France, so far away, he decided to park it and create his own project.

The difficulty of such a project is monstrous.

“It can be harder than Bibliographie,

but having not yet managed to chain it [reach the drop without hanging to rest or grab the safety pins] it is not known how difficult it may be.

I still have some work to do to chain it, but every day I feel closer to achieving it.

I've already spent almost 60 days on the track.

At the moment my dream is to raise my level in sport climbing and you can't imagine how hard I'm fighting to achieve it and how many hours I'm investing in this challenge.

I hope to achieve it one day”, explains the Vallecano.

The street has a name, Café Colombia, and it is located in the Catalan school of Margalef.

I've already spent almost 60 days on the track.

At the moment my dream is to raise my level in sport climbing and you can't imagine how hard I'm fighting to achieve it and how many hours I'm investing in this challenge.

I hope to achieve it one day”, explains the Vallecano.

The street has a name, Café Colombia, and it is located in the Catalan school of Margalef.

I've already spent almost 60 days on the track.

At the moment my dream is to raise my level in sport climbing and you can't imagine how hard I'm fighting to achieve it and how many hours I'm investing in this challenge.

I hope to achieve it one day”, explains the Vallecano.

The street has a name, Café Colombia, and it is located in the Catalan school of Margalef.

Can the second 9c in history be yours?

His case is reminiscent of the weeks prior to Iker Pou's chaining of the Acción Directa route (Germany), when the man from Alava became the third human being to reach 9a.

22 years have passed since then... and Spanish climbers continue to take advantage of the greatest playing field: the quantity and quality of the rock in the country.

“Spain is the center of the rock world.

Ours is one of the countries with the most rock, also with totally different formations and styles between some areas and others.

If you climb, it is impressive to see all the areas that we have, from the south, the center and to the north and passing through Catalonia, with an impressive quality and, in addition, with blocks and routes that are among the hardest lines”, he analyzes Diaz Rullo.

At times misplaced, the man from Madrid has had a hard time finding his way.

Living alone in his van, there were days when he did not even have insurance and had to ask strangers to accompany him: “I think I have learned to choose my place of stay and my projects around places where I know that friends or where I know people usually pass.

I didn't know this rule before and I chose projects without thinking, in quite hidden places without much traffic.

This has made me live some solo experiences and know how to work on my projects without depending on anyone, learn to climb alone and learn to trust people I don't know as insurers.

Thinking about it, I also had a good time like this and I met a lot of people, but I think that without a doubt, it is more comfortable to share experiences and motivation with good friends”, he resolves.

no rope

Despite the tremendous emergence of the sport of climbing, living comfortably from it is still Homeric: “I am a professional climber and to come from where I come from I think I have enough help.

There are Spanish climbers who, in my opinion, are very good or may be in the world elite and who do not have any support.

Still, I sometimes feel like I don't have enough help.

There are trips and projects that I can't accomplish because I can't afford it,” says Jorge, who studied Sports Science and plans to train as a nutritionist and climbing guide.

Also the result of his character without prejudice, the Vallecano has been surprising for some time with high difficulty climbs... without a rope.

They are short sports routes, but up to 8c, a difficulty reserved for very few.

“I think it's a bit complex to explain why I climb without a rope, everyone has their own feeling, everyone puts their own challenges and everyone chooses what really motivates them.

I like that mental factor, the adrenaline of knowing that you can't fall, but at the same time feeling sure of myself and knowing that no matter what happens I'm not going to fall.

The truth is, I feel safe at all times and if I do it, it's because I know 200% that I'm not going to fall and that I'm going to enjoy it”.

The grade debate

Climbing is not an exact science, which is why limiting its difficulties is the source of heated debates: “It is totally true: the degree of difficulty is subjective.

There are always steps that, due to height, finger size, arm length, strength, technique, flexibility... feel different among climbers, but I think it's something nice that this sport has, that's why there are very personal challenges and definitely, We are never going to say that there is one climber better than another, but rather that there are climbers who are better prepared and better adapted to stand out in different types of climbing”, explains the man from Madrid.

“It is also true that graduation depends on your fitness.

Sometimes you are at your best and you can reach a goal a little faster.

But if you face a challenge in a worse state of form and something costs you much more,

you certainly feel it differently, and it seems more difficult to you than it is.

And you can even go to a project and be lucky with the weather conditions or you go and the rain and humidity harm you... The grade depends on a thousand things.

I always say that the important thing is to meet your goals and see the progress and see everything you have achieved with your effort.

The degree motivates, but it is still a simple number”, she analyzes.

Although, yes, it is the business card of an elite climber, the unofficial Olympic medal.

I always say that the important thing is to meet your goals and see the progress and see everything you have achieved with your effort.

The degree motivates, but it is still a simple number”, she analyzes.

Although, yes, it is the business card of an elite climber, the unofficial Olympic medal.

I always say that the important thing is to meet your goals and see the progress and see everything you have achieved with your effort.

The degree motivates, but it is still a simple number”, she analyzes.

Although, yes, it is the business card of an elite climber, the unofficial Olympic medal.

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