Juri Chiaramonte

Name: Juri Chiaramonte
DOB: 1981
Interview: Moon Climbing / January 2013

Moon Climbing – When and where did you start climbing?
Juri -  The first time was in summer 200 in the Dolomites. The following winter I started intense training which was soon followed by several smaller injuries. After roughly one year I tore the cruciate ligament in my finger and stopped climbing. In summer 2004 a friend talked me into starting climbing again and the psyche grew again…

Moon Climbing – Do you have a favourite style of climbing (traditional, sport, bouldering etc)? 
Juri -  I definitely prefer bouldering. I’d like to try out sport climbing a bit more but putting on a harness and tying in turns me into a real coward. I envy the climbers who climb with a rope and move as casually as if they were bouldering just above the ground.

Moon Climbing – You are stuck on a desert island with just one route and one boulder. Which ones would you choose and why? 
Juri -  I’d choose a route with a bolt every half meter, otherwise I’ be too frustrated. Some routes like ‘Biographie“ are really impressive, the line, the rock, and so on… For the boulder maybe Vecchio Leone, General Disarray, Karma or something like that. But I’d like to skip the question, because the thought of only one piece of rock is kind of frightening. What should I do with my wire brushes? Brush my teeth or build sculptures?

Moon Climbing – Who is your climbing hero or inspiration and why? 
Juri -  There are many people. The most important ones are for sure Güllich, Albert (R.I.P.), Fred Nicole, Ben Moon (don’t tell him), Moffat, Sharma, two or three others. I find these persons inspirational because they did things, which were not on the agenda that days and they had the courage to live their passion.

Moon Climbing - How often do you climb?
Juri -  I climb 4-5 times a week, if injuries and skin permit it.

Moon Climbing – Where and how often do you train and for how many hours per week? 
Juri -  I preferably train in the climbing gym in Bolzano, where I´m working as routesetter as well.  I try to train indoors three times a week and climb on rock twice. A training session usually takes 2-3 hours, sometimes more.

Moon Climbing – What kind of training do you do? 
Juri - I like to do some campusing, frenchies, pull ups and Moon Board sessions.

Moon Climbing - Your top training tip or tips?
Juri -  Stay free of injuries, stay psyched and keep on trying to do that 1-5-9

Moon Climbing – The climbing achievement you are most proud of and why? 
Juri -  There is no special ascent or boulder problem, rather the fact that I developed a whole bouldering crag basically on my own and I’m still working on expanding it.

Moon Climbing - What is your opinion on competitions? Good, bad or indifferent?
Juri -  Sometimes I’m working as route setter for comps and I would like to do some competitions but I lack the physical and mental skills for competition situations.Respect to the boys and girls for having the brain to master such situations.

Moon Climbing – Your goals for 2013? 
Juri - I have some dreams but i won’t reveal these, otherwise they won’t become true. So I can’t come up with any names, grades or anything like that, bouldering as much and as hard as possible on the rock and to stay free of injuries.