Twelve-year-old Théo Blass sends with „Trip Tik Tonik“ in the French climbing area Gorges Du Loup. After climbing his first 8c+ this winter in his home climbing area in Claret, he was now able to score with „Trip Tik Tonik“ (aka „TTT“) in the hinterland of Nice. Theo is thus the youngest climber (12 years and 9 months) to have climbed a 9a route. He is only slightly faster than the Italian Gianluca Vighetti, who climbed the route „TCT“ in the Italian climbing area Val di Susa redpointed shortly before his thirteenth birthday.

Théo Blass already scored his third 8c route last year with ‚Super Samson‘ in the French climbing area Claret. Théo wrote climbing history the year before last when he was only ten years old and thus the youngest climber to climb an 8c route with ‚Souvenirs du pic‘.

In 2004, an 11-year-old Czech boy named Adam Ondra made history by climbing „Mascherina“ (8b+) in the Grotta del Aeronauta in Italy. At the time, he was the youngest climber to achieve this. In 2012, Brooke Raboutou beat Ondra’s record by a few months when she climbed Welcome to Tijuana (8b+) in Rodellar, Spain, also at the age of 11. This was beaten by Ashima Shirashi when she was 11 years old. In October 2012, she was able to climb the route „Southern Smoke“ ((8b+/5.14c) in Red River Gorge Redpoint. In 2016, the Ukrainian Illya Bakhmet-Smolensky climbed the route „Pijane Trójkąty“ (8b+) in Poland. She also 11 years old.

Photo: (c) Thibaut Pawlas