There are six surnames in the men’s world elite of rock climbing. One of them is Spanish, from Vallecas: Jorge Díaz Rullo has jumped from the van in which he lived under the walls to the Olympus of his discipline in just three years. Almost religious passion, method and enormous work to grow support him. Now, Díaz Rullo (25 years old) shares the heat of the spotlight with five other climbers, who form two groups of three: the Czech Adam Ondra, the German Alex Megos and the Austrian Jakob Schubert compete in stages such as the Games or the Cup of the World, but they are also the great references of this century when talking about rock.
At his side, the Italian Stefano Ghisolfi, the Frenchman Seb Bouin and Jorge Díaz Rullo dispense with the competition to focus absolutely on the rock. These last three understand that it is in the rock where climbing was born decades ago, and that it is the natural environment that is worth exploring, which ultimately judges the history of a discipline that in recent times has found a place in climbing walls. temple for the young post-pandemic generations. The rock, they believe, grants the prestige, the aura that the Olympic metals, no matter how much they shine, do not grant.
Ondra and Megos competed in the last Games, and in the previous ones: they only reaped tremendous frustration, far from the medals. However, the Czech is the climber who has taken the discipline to its maximum difficulty: in 2017 he proposed a grade of 9 c for his Silence route. Nobody has been able to repeat it. And the German was the first to sight climb a 9 a, meaning that he achieved such difficulty without having rehearsed the route, without knowing its secrets. Both 31 years old, they have pushed the limits of rock difficulty to unsuspected extremes. His discreet time at the Games only shows that resin climbing is a different type of sport.
To shake off the anger of a failed Games, Megos (a slip of his right foot prevented him from entering the final) flew to Norway and camped in Flatanger, near the cave where Ondra equipped and climbed Silence, and where in 2012 he signed the first 9b+ in history, which he named Change. In a flash, Megos chained Change and, followed by another iconic route like Move, from 9 b. The surprise came when Jorge Díaz Rullo, from the Scarpa team, did the same just a few days later. Its success placed the Spaniard, unequivocally, as a world reference. However, it was not the first 9b+ route that the Vallecano chained: in 2023 he took over the famous Bibliographie as well as the route Mejorando la samfaina.
The difficulty of climbing grades is granted by consensus. In the simple grades, there are many possible candidates to formulate an opinion about a grade, but in the elite, right now, only the six climbers mentioned above have enough experience and pedigree to convey their opinion. Díaz Rullo is one of them, by rights. When someone becomes the first to chain a maximum level route, they propose a degree of difficulty and it is future repeaters who will determine whether the proposal was correct or not. Álex Megos knows this well, who after signing the first chain of Bibliographie proposed 9 c. Ghisolfi, second repeater, however, thought that the matter did not go beyond 9 b+, a judgment that Megos accepted with sportsmanship. With the Change route, the matter is even more delicate.
Ondra signed the first in 2012 without wearing knee pads but the rest of the repeaters have done so, from Ghisolfi to Bouin, including Megos and Díaz Rullo. And both Bouin and the Spaniard believe that the route is not as difficult as its grade indicates… at least using the controversial knee pads. His gesture shows his honesty. Where they could have scored another major achievement, they have preferred to point out something that is on everyone’s lips: the use of knee pads alters the nature of the game. Knee pads are cooked rubber protections that do not actually protect the knee but rather the area that goes from the top of the knee to covering the first third of the quadriceps. They are used to embed this area in cavities in the rock, using leverage with the leg. Then a hands-free rest is achieved, with the entire body balanced on said leverage force. Being able to rest on one track distributes the effort and, consequently, makes things easier. Hence, many believe that there should be two types of grading for roads: the one given without the use of knee pads and the one given with their use.
“Knowing that all opinions are subjective, I must be honest with myself and give my opinion regarding the Change route. It is definitely harder than a 9b, but not as difficult as a 9b+. I would give it the intermediate grade of 9b/+, but I have to say that the route will always be a great classic, historical and that Adam Ondra surpassed it when he was barely 19 years old. Impressive,” explains Díaz Rullo. So, Ondra did not use knee pads and has an opinion on the matter: “With knee pads you can perform insertions where it is not possible to do so with bare skin or with pants. “This can significantly alter the difficulty of the routes.” It is important that the best climbers in the world clarify the rules of their sport, even if these are not written down like in most other sports. Here, ethics and honesty must shine above self-deception and ego.
Díaz Rullo also has in his hands a long-term project in Margalef, Catalonia, a path that has involved more than 120 days of work without, so far, being able to complete it. The speed with which he has dispatched the Change and Move routes seems to indicate that his project would be in tune with the present limits of the human being: “I don’t know what level it is, but due to the time I have invested and measuring myself in these routes of reference, I am clear that at least it is much closer to my limit. All of this brings me closer to achieving more important goals. I feel like I don’t stop learning, I see myself as a better climber, more complete and more prepared in every way to continue pushing my limits. With motivation and enjoying it, this game never ends,” he concludes. You just need to chain it. Then you must propose a degree of difficulty and wait for the verdict of the elite.
