Earlier this month, Arlo Rogers climbed Estado crítico (9a), and in doing so entered the ninth grade for the first time.

Estado Critico, which was bolted by Dani Andrada, and first climbed by Ramón Julián Puigblanque in 2004, was originally proposed at 9a. However, quick ascents from Adam Ondra and Patxi Usobiaga, amongst others, saw the grade lowered slightly to 8c+/9a. 

A few years later, a hold break saw the original grade of the route reinstated, with Ondra repeating the route in 2010, post-break, and confirming the 9a grade, which is where the route has since settled. 

Two years later, Estado Critico entered climbing legend when an 18 year old Alex Megos onsighted the route, making him the first climber to onsight a route at 9a.

Arlo has a handful of ascents at 8c+ to his name, as well an ascent of the 8c+/9a La Cabane au Canada, first ascents up to 8c, and boulder ascents up to 8B.

We got in touch to ask him about his process on the route, the successful attempt, and what other projects he has lined up closer to home:

Congratulations on climbing Estado Critico, your first route at 9a! When did you first become aware of the route, and, at that point, was it a route that you ever thought you'd get on?

Thanks! I can't really remember when first heard about it, but it's a route I wanted to try for as long as I have been climbing. 

I've always been psyched for endurance routes like this, I love the experience on them and typically I've not been very good at doing hard moves but have been alright at hanging on, so routes like this have always appealed to me.

You said that this was a route where the process felt as perfect as it could have done - what was it about the process that felt so good?

It was great trying this route with so many other psyched people, I was worried about the queues when I first tried it, as it also shares the start of Kale borroka (8b+) and Dogma (8b) but despite the busyness being inconvenient at times, it made for some great try hard scenes at the crag. 

After I passed the crux, on almost every attempt after I just fell higher and higher on the head wall. It's such great climbing up there, and I was falling off totally boxed and fighting really hard, making it all round a really fun process.

You've also climbed La Cabane au Canada (9a), which is often given 9a, but which you felt deserved hard 8c+, looking back at your numerous 8c+ ascents, what is it that you feel made Estado Critico a grade harder?

Despite both being crimpy endurance routes, they are actually quite a different style I thought with Cabane being much more bouldery, with a handful of very good rests on it, and Estado having almost no rests after the first 8a section. 

Both the cruxes are similar in difficulty I feel (7C boulder) but with Cabane it's straight off the couch followed by pumpy boulder/rest climbing. With Estado, the 7C boulder comes after a pumpy 8a, and is followed by sustained but easier crimping.

Estado is also much harder to work, with spaced and awkwardly placed bolts. I don't think this should affect the grade, but perhaps subconsciously it affected how I felt about the difficulty of the route. It can be all too easy to get hung up on the details of how tricky something is though, I think, especially when it's all subjective. At the end of the day they are both brilliant and I enjoyed trying and climbing them, with both offering different challenges and experiences.

Tell us about the trip overall, was Estado Critico always the goal, or was it a case of arriving in Siurana and then seeing which route took your fancy?

The trip was a good laugh, I got to spend loads of time with loads of different people trying different routes. 

Alex Norton was there for the whole trip and it was good seeing his progress on Estado and sharing the experience with him, though it was less good sharing his signature curry consisting of raw potatoes and carrots. 

I was pretty psyched to try Estado, but I was planning on trying it to see how it felt, and had some other things in mind if I wasn't keen or didn't feel fit enough.

How many sessions did you have on it? 

Nine sessions, and about two goes a day, whilst often trying other stuff at the end of the day.

Tell us about the crux of the route - the left hand throw - it looks like a tough move in isolation, what is it about that move that makes it so low percentage?

Yeah it's a great move, really satisfying. The right foot you need to drill is pretty bad, and the hold is also a bit blind until you know exactly where it is. You would probably never drop the set up moves when you know what to do, but they, too, are also a little low percentage.

There's also a great clock sequence after the crux and before the climbing on the headwall starts.

For many of us, we first heard about Estado Critico when Alex Megos onsighted the route in 2012, the first ever onsight of a 9a route. Having now climbed the route yourself, can you see how an onsight would be possible, or does Alex's onsight seem even more incredible now than it did before?

Yeah it's really impressive, getting through that crux onsight and having enough beans for the top. 

To some degree, with this route, I can see how if you were fit enough to hang about on the crux to work it out - and could hang on through the middle section with micro shakes - it's a feasible onsight... but still crazy impressive!

Talk us through the successful attempt:

It was excellent conditions that day, super windy and low humidity. First go of the day I fell off the last move of the last boulder, totally boxed. 

I rested almost all of the day, and the successful attempt was at the end of the day. A Slovenian chap called Tim had also been trying Kale Borroka the entire time I was trying Estado, and he did this right after with a big fight, which was great to see.

Finally, you're currently studying and living in South Wales, what are some of the local(ish) lines that you're keen to try?

I have bolted quite a few projects, the direct start to a route I did last year, Importunity (8c), as well as some other new lines at different crags. 

I also climbed two new routes last year at  Minchin Hole Golden Eagle (8b) and Skylark (8a+), and it would be cool to link them. The result would be super sustained, and incorporate loads of great climbing. 

I'm also keen to get stuck into more at Pembroke, as well as get on some local boulder projects if it ever stops raining!