If the Czech Adam Ondra has been the reference star in the world of climbing in the last decade, the North American based in Catalonia, Chris Sharma, reigned unquestionably with the arrival of the new century before handing over the baton.
Hardly anyone remembers that Sharma came to compete until 2003, even winning a World Cup event: his kingdom belonged to the rock, the element on which until recently the hierarchy of climbers was established.
The image of him, halfway between the surfer and the athlete, dominated the covers of the magazines and turned him into the great publicity claim of the recently released century.
But the debut of climbing as an Olympic discipline in the last Tokyo Games has come to drastically alter the public's perception and the references to cling to.
“People on the street have no idea what a 9b+ route is, but they do understand the speed test or understand that the one who reaches the highest in the rope test wins.
The other day, just before the Spanish Block Championship held in Cáceres, I heard an elderly couple in a bar chatting about the details of the test.
This would have been unthinkable before the Games”, shares David Macià, the Spanish climbing coach who led Alberto Ginés to win the first Olympic gold in the history of the discipline in the past Games.
The Tokyo appointment should have crowned Ondra, who is still digesting the disgust for his bump (he was only sixth).
After all, Ondra is the person who has been able to climb the most difficult rock route on the planet, a 9c named Silence and located in Flatanger, Norway.
No one has yet been able to repeat his ascent to corroborate the degree of difficulty proposed.
It could be even more difficult.
Or stay at 9b+, the highest confirmed difficulty.
On the other hand, Ginés is only known for three ninth grade chainings, all three of 9a difficulty, a record that is light years away from the figures presented by Ondra: 126 9a routes completed;
47 routes of 9a+;
22 of 9b;
four of 9b+ and his proposal of 9c.
If the figures are overwhelming, the margin in competition is not that large, strange as it may seem.
What the numbers of both climbers really reveal is that they are children of different eras: Ondra is 29 years old compared to Ginés's 20, who seems to have been born to compete.
In fact, when the man from Cáceres is asked if his future after leaving behind the bibs will be rock, he doubts and claims to be unclear.
Ultimately, what these numbers reveal is the gulf that has opened between outdoor rock climbing and indoor, or resin, climbing.
Séb Bouin on the Supreme Jumbo Love, 9b+ route, located in the Mojave desert.
"There is so much work to do to improve bouldering and ropes ahead of the 2024 Paris Games, that Alberto hardly has time or options to go out on the rock," explains Macià, who has been the coach of Caceres for almost a decade.
The great dominator of the competition scene is Slovenian, her name is Janja Garnbret and, practically, she is unbeatable... as if she evolved in a different league.
She hardly comes close to rock stages and
only
has 9a as the highest grade reached in rock, far from 9b/b+, the highest difficulty reached by a woman.
The competition season has just ended and it is time for many to change gear and go out on the rock….
Before returning to lock himself in a climbing wall.
Some, however, like the Frenchman Séb Bouin, live solely for the rock.
In fact, the Frenchman is the most impressive climber in recent times.
Last May he announced that he had climbed a route that he had been working on for almost three years: he proposed a difficulty of 9c and, almost begged, that some climbing star come over to repeat it.
Nobody has.
Everyone is thinking about the Games.
In fact, one of the few who could have, Italian Stefano Ghisolfi, has been seriously testing Ondra's 9c.
The German Alex Megos showed interest in the Bouin route, named
ADN
, but has not come to meet him.
The priority of competing
“I am not sure that training to compete is detrimental when trying 9c routes.
There is no doubt that training to compete helps when going to the rock.
It should be remembered that most international competitions take place in summer, a time of year when it is not easy to find rocky places where you can climb with guarantees, due to the heat.
So the break to compete for a few months can be good to perform very well on rock”, says Alex Megos (Tenaya team) by phone, one of the few who has been able to sign a 9b + and who is expected to get closer one day to the only two existing 9c proposals.
Commercial brands are also divided between the essence of the rock and the tendency of new climbers to populate the climbing walls that are springing up in cities at an unknown pace.
The rock has in its favor an aesthetic and some natural settings that have always activated the dream machine of those who, like the late Patrick Edlinger, considered climbing “a way of life”.
Alberto Ginés during a climbing World Cup appointment in 2022.
Black Diamond, an iconic firm for those addicted to the natural environment, sponsors both Ginés and Bouin, the man of the moment.
Bouin started competing and left it very soon, due to a problem with his coach.
He right now he lives in a state of grace.
Since May he has succeeded in chaining the Change
' (9b+),
Nordic Marathon
(9b/b+) or
Iron Curtain
(9b) routes in Norway
, but his most famous conquest is the first chaining of
Supreme Jumbo Love
, in California, a 9b+ that becomes the hardest route in the American continent.
A priori, Ginés' Olympic gold had a greater publicity impact than Bouin's famous ascents, which have
only
gone around the world in the specialized media.
Ginés acknowledges that he follows Bouin and the strongest rock climbers on social networks.
“Until mid-January I am going to do several rock trips, which is a medium that I rarely visit but not because I don't like it.
What happens is that I have been very disconnected from the rock for years because my motivation is to be the best competing.
The rock will always be there and I don't see it as something urgent.
When I stop competing, in my thirties, I'll always be able to rock climb, so I don't have to.
Now is the time for me to compete, at least until my motivation lasts.
Rock is very different to the competition in resin.
Although the essence remains the same, the world of rock and the world of resin are two different worlds”, concludes the man from Extremadura.
No one denies that Ginés could score exceptional marks on rock.
“The effect of the Games has had a huge impact on the young people who arrive”, explains Macià.
"In his case, the competition is his reference, and it is a reality that is here to stay," he observes.
And meanwhile, the world of climbing has ceased to be what it was known for, all in just five years.
They are legion regulars of the climbing walls who have no intention of going out on the rock: for this purpose you need a partner, you have to drive, you need material and it is potentially dangerous, they point out.
The most romantic or apocalyptic dream of a setting in which the climbing walls overflow with followers and the rock remains a haven of peace for nostalgics.
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