Vid’ma was like a whole life.

Valentyn Shvydkyy has done Vid`ma 8a in 2019. He climbed 8a at age 50 for the first time. It could have happen a few years earlier, as he thinks, if only....  what?

I started climbing in Simeiz. I went there for holiday and for working in a children camp. All along, I saw climbers on the rocks there. I was admired by their courage. Definitely, I couldn't have been one of them. No way! But finally we ran out of all excursions there except 2 of them: diving and climbing. I would have chosen rather diving, but was persuaded to try climbing. So, we had a master-class by Wedeenmeer. He introduced himself at once: Andrew - Twice World Champion. He did his job excellent. I climbed everything in my running shoes. And then we rappelled from 45 meters. It was amazing. I had a feeling that I was awesome, that I could climb almost like him. Maybe, a little bit worse due to a lack of experience. We wanted more. The next day we went to Nikita crag. At the entrance I saw the route Luntik (5c+ or 6a) for dummies as I immediately thought. We climbed some easy routes and then returned to Luntik. That moment I felt myself a total dummy. I couldn’t do a single move. But we still wanted more. At the third day Andrew led as at a 300 meters high multi-pitch climbing in Paragilmen. We still wanted more. We had a few days left of our holiday, but the money was gone.


In Kiev I went to NAU. Soon I climbed 6b toprope and hit the plateau. I needed a trainer, so I started training with Sasha Paukaev. But he switched to producing climbing hold soon. For a long time, I was training by myself.


I wasn’t intended to climb 8a. Kolya Ostrouch convinced me to try Vid`ma just because he climbed it and once had no partner. I continued to refuse, but surprisingly I did all the moves at my first try. I had a feeling that I could try to do it. It was September 2016.


I was a few times there in 2017, but my level significantly raised. In 2018 I had already had a feeling that I could do it. Fortunately, I came to Misha Shalagin’s children camp at the Dovbush rocks. All my arrogance was gone. Misha said: “You have no beta. You climb as it is. If it is the route at your limit, you should know everything”. I had known it, theoretically, but I hadn’t remembered beta even at the crux. Misha made me learn everything. Thus, I understood I wasn’t about to climb it. He forced me to climb the hard part of the route several times in a row. 1,5 hour later I was totally exhausted, though, usually I could try it 5 times a day. It was a huge amount. But we worked efficiently together with Misha.

I continued to climb it the next year, and my beta was changing almost every trip. I have learned how to breathe. I have learned how to not over-gripping. I have learned how to save energy during climb. If you don’t save energy, you won’t have it left enough for the last move. And after that the mentality went ahead. I felt fear: what if I climb? With 7c and 7c+ all were the same. I could do them early, but fear made my breathe shallow and my hands over-gripping. Every time I did it when I wasn’t expect it. The hardest thing was to reduce the importance of the result.


Vid’ma was like a whole life that thought me a lot. One thing is that when you think you have the beta, it is just a beta. It isn’t the optimal one. One should search for an easier beta, but we often stick to what we already know. It is hard to search for some new ways of doing familiar things. Occasionally, I found 3 more footholds. They were worse, but I fit me better. Firstly, I hadn’t seen them at all. I couldn’t find a rest position before the crux for a long time, but I wasn’t strong enough to climb non-stop.


I have understood: there is no linear dependence between results and amount of training. Sometimes, it seems you should train 5-6 times a week to progress. But personally I think, it is better to have rest and then probably climb a route. I think, if you want to climb well on crags, you should climb on crags. If you want to climb 8a on crags, you should climb a lot on crags. If I go to the rocks every weekend and do nothing except that, I will be a better climber. IMHO



Climbing isn’t a sport, it’s a way of life. Climbers don’t ask what you are doing on Easter. They ask where you are going.