Argyro Papathanasiou and her first 8a

It's not cutting edge news, but perhaps this is precisely why we like it: a few days ago Argyro Papathanasiou sent her first 8a. Nothing extraordinary most will say, so why do we like it? Perhaps because Papathanasiou has only been climbing for two years, so sending this grade - which not so many years ago was considered truly impressive - is certainly interesting. Another reason may be that with her redpoint of Minimal Techno at Siurana, Papathanasiou has probably become the first Greek woman to send this grade, and this is obviously a great moment for the Greek sport climbing movement.

Then, last but not least, we liked the fact that this autumn Papathanasiou climbed her first ever big wall, by belaying her boyfriend Nicolas Favresse up the Salathè. A real baptism of fire on El Capitan, one of the most famous rock faces in the world, which she approached with simplicity, joy and, in true Favresse-style, accompanied by music and her Melodica. "The emotions were very intense" the 25-year-old climber from Athens told planetmountain "but at the same time I felt all the time like home in our portaledge! And now I'm motivated to climb even more."