Adventure Magazine Feb 2020

Can you explain the differences between
bouldering, lead and speed climbing? And
which, for you, is the most difficult?
Bouldering is sometimes described as
the purest form of climbing. It is climbing
without a rope on boulders or walls up to a
height of around 4m. The individual moves
in bouldering are very hard compared to the
other disciplines, but in general a boulder
only has up to 10 moves. When you fall off
a boulder there are matts (indoors) or socalled
crash pads (outdoors) underneath the
boulder to lower the impact.
Lead climbing is the discipline which
most people would refer to when they say
climbing. You climb on rocks, cliffs, indoor
walls and you are climbing on a rope. So
in case of a fall the belayer will catch your
fall through the rope. Normally indoor walls
are around 15m high and a route in a
competition has around 40 to 50 moves.
The individual moves are not as hard as
in bouldering, but the length of the climbs
are challenge. The more moves you do the
more pumped you get in your forearms.
Lactic acid in your forearms are normally
the reason for why you fall on a lead climb
whereas in bouldering the reason normally
is that the moves are too hard or in case of a
competition you don't find the right sequence
of holds to climb the boulder.
Speed climbing is the newest form
of climbing. In speed climbing you always
climb the same route and you try to climb
that route as fast as possible. In order to be
able to climb it fast you have to have every
movement memorized and you have to do
every move an infinite amount of times
to study it to perfection. To climb fast you
need a lot more explosiveness in your legs
and arms than in the other two disciplines.
Speed climbing is as well the most difficult
discipline for me as I've only been doing it
since a couple of years. I don't have a speed
wall close by so the amount of speed training
I did is not very high compared to the amount
of time I put into my lead and bouldering
training.
How does a pro-boulderer become an elite
grade speed-climbing master in two short
years?
Personally I don't think that a climber
from any discipline can become world class
in any of the other disciplines if he hasn't
done that discipline before. A boulderer or
lead climber will not be able to get to a world
class speed climbing level in two years and
same goes for the other way around. With a
lot of training one might get quite good at the
other disciplines though.
Why should everyone tune in to watch the
climbing events on Tokyo?
Climbing as a sport has got a lot to offer.
It's a fundamental movement like running
and swimming. It's in the human’s nature to
climb up on things. That's why climbing is a
sport a lot of people are drawn towards.
Why should people tune into watch climbing
at the Olympics?
Because it'll be a very interesting
competition where it's impossible to say how
the outcome of the comp will be. With the
scoring system of the combined format each
score is dependent on how the other athletes
do so it will be a thrilling competition till the
very end.
How hard have you had to train in order to
stand a chance of a gold medal? How has
your training changed?
Since I started competing my training
has changed a lot compared to some years
ago. Before u l was only training for rock
climbs I wanted to do, so my training as a lot
more specific according to the project I was
working on. With getting back into comps I
suddenly found myself training a lot more
diverse. You never know what you will get at
a comp, so you need to be prepared for all
styles. I had to work on my weaknesses in
order to be able to perform better.
I incorporated speed climbing and more
comp style bouldering in my training. That
was probably the biggest change in my
training routine.
When you look at a climbing wall, what do
you see and how do you prepare mentally
for it?
Of course the longer you climb the
more you see just by looking at a wall. In
competitions it's essential to be able to look
at a route or a boulder for a short amount of
time and figure out how to climb it. So when
I look at a climb, I try to find out what the
easiest sequence is and how to climb it in the
most efficient way possible. I look at possible
rest positions, I try to imagine in which body
positions I'll be in and how every hold and
foothold will feel like. Essentially, I'm trying
to climb it in my mind while standing on the
ground looking at the route.
What's your advice to novice climbers when
it comes to the mental side of the sport?
Beginners very often have mental
barriers because of heights. Being high
above the ground on a climb, only protected
by a rope of course is scary for everyone at
first. Through training and exposing yourself
to mild fear and uncomfortable situations
we can learn to deal with it and work on our
mental weaknesses. Not giving up is key for
improvement when it comes to physical and
mental challenges.
As our lives get busier, faster and more
demanding than ever, is climbing is the
perfect antidote to the pressures of modern
life?
Climbing is the cure for everything! ;-)
haha. Well, I would see climbing as some sort
of antidote yes. Our world is constantly about
change and moving faster, climbing though is
always the same in a way. And with the same
I don't mean that climbing is monotonous.
What I mean is that the idea of climbing is
that you challenge yourself on a piece of
rock. The challenge is always different, and
the rock is too. Sometimes it's a physical
challenge and sometimes it's a mental
challenge. Sometimes it's not even a big
challenge but the game itself never seems
to change. And because of that climbing is a
good escape from our fast, modern world.
What are you focusing on in the upcoming
month till the Olympic Games?
For the last few months of 2019 I'd
like to go rock climbing a bit and enjoy the
nature. From the beginning of next year I will
focus again on plastic and on the training for
the comps. I do still have to catch up with my
speed climbing and my bouldering is still too
dependent on whether or not it suits me, so I
still need to work on my weaknesses.
What excites you most about climbing's
debut at the Games?
The most exciting thing for me will be the
fact that I'm able to be part of the biggest
sport event of all time. I was at the Olympics
once to watch back in 2004 in Athens and
since then the Olympics always stood for the
biggest goal of an athlete.
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