UKC

In reply to French Erick:

She's now done an 8b+, Golden Shadow, in Rocklands...

https://onbouldering.com/oriane-bertone-climbs-golden-shadow-8b-v14/

Even more surprising is that she comes from Reunion Island. Can't imagine there's a lot of rock or climbing walls there to train on.

There is tonnes of rock! It's a volcanic island, 3000m peak with 3 huge cirques around it. Plenty of rock at low level too.

I lived there about 15 years ago, and never found a climbing wall, but it's a developed enough island to have one by now, if they wanted one. It's not really an indoor climate!!

Caroline Ciavaldini is from Réunion. There was a video about year or two ago of her, James Pearson, Yuji, Jacopo Larcher and some others new routing there. I recall she said climbing was really popular over there, that she got into climbing through it being part of school pe lessons.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/play.php?i=1784

She is cheating, pure and simple.

Anyone of that build should be forced to wear a weight vest or carry a rucksack full of sand to compensate for their unfair body weight advantage!

CB

PS: Great effort!

That's really interesting. Thanks. I know nothing about the place, it's just a tiny spec in the sea East of Africa to me.

I think it's interesting that someone has become so good when they're so far away from the more mainstream climbing communities though.

Don't worry. Hopefully, once she reaches puberty, she'll completely change shape and struggle to get up a F5.

It's worth a visit. It's a long way from everywhere, but a cool place. I spent a semester "studying" there! It may not have been the hardest semester I ever did in my student life, but it was good fun!! It has an active volcano, lovely beaches, good coral reefs, cracking waterfalls, mountains and interesting culture.

It was an uninhabitted island until the French East India company cast some mutineers there to die in the 18th century. They came back 12 months later to find them thriving, and so started using it for plantations. They brought slaves from around the world to work on the plantations, so the population is now a completely mixed race population with many families having physical characteristics associated with numerous people groups.