Are you a sport-oriented person? Are you interested in other sports than climbing?
No, just climbing!

Are you interested in the theory of climbing by yourself, or do you just leave it to your trainer?
I'm very interested in theory (we also learn it at school), but that doesn't mean I do only what the theory says. I think you have to listen to your body! If anyone says: that´s the best endurance training - he´s wrong; it´s the best for him, and that doesn´t mean that´s the best for me!

Do you develop your skills only by climbing, or do you use any special methods, for example for strengthening your fingers - like training board exercises etc? 
For about 2 months a year we go to a fitness centre. We also do the campus board, and often some special additional exercises.

I guess you're not able to do one-arm pull-ups at this age? Am I wrong? 
I don´t know, I've never tried it. I believe it´s unimportant - I think on an 8c the holds are too bad to hang on with one arm, not to say to do a one-arm pull-up.

Have you ever had a serious climbing injury? 
Once I wanted to do a route at Massone and after breaking a hold, I fell and broke my eye-hole, but no problem J!

Aren't you afraid that doing such hard routes at such an early age can be dangerous for your hand joints, tendons etc. in the future? I guess your hands look quite different than the hands of your school mates? 
No, we have very good coaches and I feel it when it´s enough. My fingers sometimes hurt, but not often. 

What are the strong and weak points of your climbing? When one looks at the list of your best ascents, it seems you do all kinds of routes: power, endurance, long, short… 
At the moment I prefer very long routes like No Future, but that changes. I just wanna climb!

What is your level in bouldering? Do you take this discipline seriously or just treat it as training for roped climbing?
I think I can do boulders of about 8a grade. I like bouldering with friends outdoors. Indoors, it´s more like training, for sure it's also fun, but more like training than outdoors.

Many climbers say that it's good to train with people who are better than you. Then you can see what's possible and it can also be very motivating. Isn't it a problem for you? I guess you're almost always the best climber in the gym… 
Yeah, but - firstly - many good climbers come to Innsbruck to train. Also, I think you can learn from not-such-good climbers more than from the really strong ones, because the weaker climbers make many mistakes and you can you see it easily. It can also be motivating to see how hard they train to become better…


Who has influenced your climbing? Have you had any climbing idols?
My trainers, my parents, my sponsors… I've never had a real idol. I have always done what I thought would be right. And I won´t do a route which I don´t like, just because my idol did it.

Can you name your favourite climbing region/regions you've visited so far?
Céüse, Georges du Tarn, Arco, Osp…

And your favourite climbing spot in Austria?
I don´t like climbing in Austria very much because I prefer travelling and seeing new places; but that would be Zillertal.

Have you got in your head a list of routes which you'd like to do? I mean something like: "I have to try Action Direct or La Rambla in the future". Or maybe you don't plan too much and just let things happen? 
There are some routes I wanna do, but I haven't got a real plan. I think more like: let´s see what's going to happen.

So what are your plans for the nearest future? 
In 2-3 weeks I'm going to America to Rumney, and in winter I wanna go to Spain.

David Lama is sponsored by:

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