BURSTErwan Legrand, 16, who in 2022 at age 14 climbed a 5.14c barefoot – story here – has made the first ascent of a longstanding project at Gorges du Tarn, France, called Les Loges do la Fuite. Legrand is the son of legendary French climber and coach Francois Legrand.
About his send, he said on 8a.nu, “After a long rest, I made two other attempts but fell at the first crux. It was frustrating after being so close on my first try, but I gave it another try. I managed the first boulder with a lot of margins, then climbed quite easily up to the final crux. I felt pretty fresh and determined, so I gave everything I had and finally made that last move. I was really happy about that send especially because it was really unexpected. About the grade, it definitely didn’t feel like a 9a [5.14d] as I was able to send it in only two days but the next one will tell. The route is amazing with very beautiful holds in a perfect wall, and I really loved it, I hope more people will try it.”
Son of a mountain guide, Francois Legrand left home in 1988, aged 18, and lived in a cave in Buoux. He then started to compete on the national level and lived in a apartment with Japanese climber Yuji Hirayama. By 2003, Legrand won five Lead Climbing World Cups (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997), three consecutive Lead Climbing World Championships (1991, 1993, 1995) and four Rock Masters.
When Francois was 16, like his son is now, he suffered a broken back in a climbing fall. Read an excerpt from a 2011 interview in United Athletes Magazine where he details the accident below.
Legrand Interview 2011
Thomas: At 16 years old, you had a 20 meter fall. Can you tell me where this accident happened?
François: When I was a teenager, I started to climb a lot on my own or with my school friends. I was 16 and we were rock climbing the moment we had time, meaning during the school holidays. I think it was Thanksgiving in 1986. We went to Buoux (France), one of the most known cliffs, at that time and I knew it quite well already. We camped at the base of the cliff.
On a morning where I was not completely awake, I went on the warm up route of a 7a quotation. From the base, we did not see the top of the route! It turned out to be longer then what we expected and I had a too short rope. I didn’t even think about that and we did not do a knot at the end. Unfortunately when I was going down the stopper did not see the end and I fell. It was an abrupt stop. I had severe injuries and I had to be hospitalized for a long time. I had been told that I would never rock climb again or be able to do any sports. It was a tough period, but it had a significant impact on me as a climber and for my career.
We have the impression that the path of a champion is easy because of his good results. However, there are periods of doubts and counter-performances which are sometimes quite difficult to live. You have to be strong to come back each time.
Thomas: What were the consequences of this fall?
François: I had three vertebras broken. Fortunately, I was young and I did not need an operation. But, there has been calcification and I was still growing up. That was the most important fracture… the backbone; it could have been very serious. Also, I broke my wrists.
Thomas (exclaims): Both!
François: Yes, on the right side, the consequences were long because it was pretty bad. Hmm! I was quite bothered for six months because I was in a complete standstill. After, I did another six months of rehabilitation before I could correctly climb again.
Thomas: Despite this fall, you came back to rock climbing. What pushed you?
François: I think about a lot of things. I have been told that I could not do anymore what I liked or any kind of sports. You can understand that those words can hurt a lot. So, I lived a day at a time without knowing what I will do after. From the moment I started rehabilitation and that my situation was improving, I wanted to see how far I could recuperate. I did not have an objective, but the desire to climb again was there.
When you suffer a 20 meter fall, there is a certain apprehension. I felt scared when I started to climb again and it was not easy. My first short try was in Grenoble. The only way I saw to go beyond my fear was to return to the place where I injured myself. I went back to Buoux and I climbed for two weeks while taking extra precautions and at the end of my stay I realized the path where I fell. I made a great step against this apprehension and afterwards things were easier.
Thomas: Indeed, one year later in 1988, you arrived at your first French championship where you faced the great actors of that time: Jacky Godoffe, Alex Duboc, Jean-Baptiste (Jibé) Tribout, Didier Raboutou and Patrick Edlinger. It was an impressive progression. To compete against the best ones, did it motivate you?
François (tells with pleasure): No, it was not really the case. Things happened so quickly when I came back. After a few months, I regained the level I had before because on the technical aspect, I did not lose that much. It was more a question of physical training.
Before, I was rock climbing without doing physical conditioning. After the accident, I started to do some because I lost a lot of muscle which disappeared under a plaster corset. I did a lot of exercises with weights and also for my abdominal muscles. I gained back muscles and at the same time strength. At that time, nobody was training regularly besides doing push-ups and pull-ups. So, I started to combine rock climbing and training. Really quickly, I made some impressive progress.
In 1988, it was the first year of French youth rock climbing championship. It was my first competition; I went there and I won. From that moment, I wanted to participate in other competitions but there were few of them. I used my title of France champion to ask the organization of the senior French championship if they could invite me. They accepted and I went there without having an objective besides the fact that it was an additional competition for me and I could meet the athletes that I admired. Moreover, I took most of my time to watch them in seclusion or when they were climbing.
One thing led to another, I reached the finals and I was really happy. I climbed naturally… in fact, there is something interesting concerning this. Competitions were on sight like they still usually are which means that each climber reads the route before climbing. We had two minutes to observe and ten minutes to climb. In the end, we had twelve minutes to look and to climb. Concerning my strategy, I was the first to analyze the route for five to six minutes and consequently I had only six minutes left to climb. The persons who were there did not understand my approach. However, I was reading well the route, I was understanding it and then hop I climbed up! This way, I was going really quickly. It allowed me at the French championship to climb to my full capacities. The strongest guys at that time who were Edlinger, Tribout, Raboutou, Cortijo, Godoffe did not understood the route because they only stayed two minutes at the base and they climbed while searching their way. This allowed me to almost win the competition even if I was at a much inferior level than the others. I finished second behind Jacky Godoffe.
The post Son of French Legend Climbs New 5.14c appeared first on Gripped Magazine.