GINES LOPEZ Alberto

Preferred discipline
Lead (ifsc-climbing.org, 26 Oct 2019)

General
CLIMBING WITH NERVES
He went from climbing in front of 100 people to doing it in front of thousands and he's had to find ways to overcome his nervousness. "It's impossible not to be nervous and if you're not, you've got a problem because something is wrong. You have to know how to deal with that tension and learn to live with it because no matter how long you've been competing, it's going to affect you. The important thing is that it affects you as little as possible. At first it was a disaster. I was really nervous and I didn't know how to compete. Little by little I started working that aspect with coach David [Macia]. This year, in the absolute category, the nerves have been horrible, but I've climbed well." (kissthemountain.com, 13 Feb 2020)

INDOOR VS OUTDOOR
He has focused on competing on indoor-climbing walls because he likes the atmosphere and the competition, but points out that the two ways of climbing are very different. "They are growing further and further apart and doing both is very difficult, if not impossible. Before, in the competitions it was all about crimps and pulling, a style more like what you'd find in the mountains. Now it's all about volume and doing impossible movements so you really can't prepare those kind of routes in the mountain. In my opinion they're taking it too far." (desnivel.com, 28 Aug 2019)