Breaking 5.13a
It all begins with an idea.
In the world of sport climbing there is an inflection point where a climber graduates from casual beginner, intermediate, and advanced routes to routes that require more demanding athletic performance and focus. That point tends to be 5.13a, which some may argue is a V7 (it is hard to compare sport climbing routes that extend for many feet and require energy maintenance to short pump-y bouldering routes, but this is a way to communicate the level of confidence needed). Just to offer some perspective, the hardest route in the world is Silence (5.15d, 9c) in Norway, which was bolted by Adam Ondra in 2012 and was successfully climbed in 2017. That’s 5 years of work just to climb one route.
Let’s do the finger math now:
5.13a, 513b, 5.13c, 5.13d, 5.14a, 5.14b, 5.14c, 5.14d, 5.15a, 5.15b, 5.15c, 5.15d…
that’s 11 grades away from the best in the world.
The only way to break grade is to proactively put yourself back in the discomfort zone.