17/09/2009Age No Barrier to Climbing 9a

Stevie Haston goes from one extreme to another. Following on from his impressive success on the choss at Craig Dorys, he has returned home to Ariege in the French Pyrenees and realised his long-held dream of climbing sport 9a, with a redpoint of Descente Lolitta at Grotte de Sabart. What's more remarkable is Stevie is 52 years young!

This 30 metre severely overhanging route is a link up of the 8c+ he climbed last year (Descente en Enfer), into an 8a+ and then an 8a to finish. Talking to Stevie the day after his new extension to Descente, he explained that his trip to Wales probably helped because although he had to mentally try hard while climbing the Dorys routes, physically it was a rest in comparison to his training regime.

He continued: "I should have got this route last year but the rest in Wales and watching my weight has made all the difference. I've been on 700 calories/day and got down to 66kgs but it's not healthy. Some of the postings by those f****** on the UKC and UKB forums about Bam Bam also made me angry which probably helped as well."

Undoubtedly, to climb at this level your 'fighting weight' makes a huge difference. Stevie commented: "I've been stronger but can't pull on such small holds because of the extra muscle bulk. Muscles are heavy."

Asked what's next he said: "I really enjoyed myself in Wales, climbing with Leigh McGinley and wouldn't mind getting back there and seeing what else I could do with this kind of fitness."

"I feel I've still got a bit more in the tank and half an hour from my house I've a 9a+ and a 9a+/9b project lined up".

Clearly, it's quite the thing for over 50 year-olds to climb 9a. The Italian 'wizard' of sport climbing, Maurizio Manolo Zanolla, born in 1958, proposed a grade of 9a for his route Eternit, established last month (PlanetMountain.com).

Photo: Stevie Haston on a harder future project in the Grotte de Sabart. © Laurence Gouault

A couple of months ago, Andy McCue, editor of Climber magazine, interviewed Stevie for the current issue and shot this short video in the cave.

Stevie Haston shows off his F9a project from Andy McCue on Vimeo.