Chris Sharma Talks Possible 5.16 and More Climbing

For Chris Sharma, progress in climbing has rarely been a straight line, it’s more like a series of tiny, almost imperceptible steps forward. “Last year, every time I went out, I felt these micro-progressions,” he recalls. “It kept the ball rolling. It kept me inspired.” That sense of freshness, of being fully rooted in the moment rather than chasing a goal set a decade ago, is what has kept him climbing with genuine enthusiasm after so many years in the sport.

But the cycle of trying, failing, and trying again can grind down even the most seasoned climber. Sharma knows the feeling well: when the inspiration fades, when the effort feels forced, when you’re repeating the same moves on the same rock and everything starts to feel stale.

He reached that point earlier this year while working on Leblond in Oliana. The heat was oppressive, the holds felt small and sharp, and each attempt felt more like an obligation than an adventure. “I was just forcing it,” he says. “And I knew it was time to shift gears.”

So he did what he’s learned to do best: he changed the scenery.

Sharma drove to Santa Anna and started working on a new route with climbing partner Matty Hong. The shift was immediate and profound. “It was a completely new place, a new crag, a new route—everything was fresh,” he says. The process of deciphering sequences, without the pressure of sending, brought him back into the joyful, playful mindset that first drew him to climbing. “That’s probably the funnest part,” he laughs. “Just unlocking the movements before you start thinking about redpoints.”

Santa Anna offered more than novelty. Where Leblond is a technical, bouldery face climb on razorlike edges, this new line was steep, physical, and full-body. “There are a couple of V13 sequences, but overall the climbing feels almost like cardio,” Sharma says. “Very athletic, very satisfying. At the end of the day you actually feel like you climbed.”

That physicality came as a kind of relief, the chance to use bigger holds, to get pumped, to work in a different way. “It’s refreshing to climb on good holds instead of these gnarly, sharp, tweaky ones,” he says. “It’s still work, but it’s fun work.”

Though the season didn’t end with a send, Sharma views it as a success. He and Hong made real progress, and for Sharma, that’s the true measure. “Progress is the goal,” he says. “It won’t be the first or the last season that ends without a send, but that’s part of the process.”

Underlying all of this is something he’s learned over decades of climbing: knowing when to push and when to pull back. “It might sound superficial to base it on how much fun you’re having,” he says, “because at a certain point, to reach your highest levels, it’s not going to be fun. It’s hard work.”

But for him, it’s less about fun and more about inspiration. If that spark disappears, the effort becomes hollow. “You need to look at a climb and feel like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing. I want to become better so I can climb this one day.’ If you’re missing that, you’re screwed.”

Sometimes the answer is a new route. Sometimes it’s a week or two completely off. The key is listening, really listening, to what your body and your mind are telling you.

This, he believes, is why he’s still here, still excited, still climbing at a world-class level after so many years. “I’ve never forced myself to climb,” he says. “Climbing has accompanied me through life, but it’s always been a choice, something that comes from the heart every time I do it. Otherwise you’re not going to get the results you’re looking for.”