Jan Hojer training © Udo Neumann / www.udini.com

Most people take it easy on rest days, and whatever you do, I guess it tends to involve some... rest. Now, Jan Hojer's rest days seems to be somewhat different.

I got this story from his friend Lukas Biniossek who's currently with Jan and Jule Wurm in Ticino:

As I'm witnessing the human ticking machine Jan on a daily basis in his training sessions I'm pretty used to seeing some insane stuff. Today was special nevertheless.

After dispatching 'Dreamtime' in two quick sessions Jan had planned a restday to gain strength for 'The Dagger' and its assis, so I and Juliane Wurm went to Chironico trying to keep up with Jan's ticking spree.

Motivated by the good weather and us punting around on Hojer-world jugs, Jan started to show us how to really climb the stuff we were trying. He climbed 'Serre moi fort' [~8A/+] in two tries, using 8C climber's beta, went on to easily flash 'Le vent nous portera' [8A], climb 'Le pilier' [8A] (the big boys' version, including a huge move off the first jug skipping the next 4 moves) and flash 'Rah plats plats' [8A].

Something like 20 minutes into his rest day he suddenly had 4 8A's under his belt.

I was like: "You should try to do 10 8A's in a day, this would be a great feat for your restday", and Jan in his ever modest way answered he would not be able to climb much more due to sore skin and forearms... whatever, he would not be Jan if he could refuse that kind of challenge. On to the Soucoupe-boulder where he climbed 'La soucoupe' [8A+] in a few tries and managed to do 'Roswell' [8A+] as well.

Next on his list with the count to 6 was 'Boogalagga', the infamous 8B. Jule and I checked out 'Dr. Pinch' [7C+], planning to meet Jan later on his project, but again we underestimated Janzilla. On his third or fourth go he managed to stick the first difficult move and cruised all the way to the top. He just came by for a second to inform us he was going to try 'Schlonziges wiener schmankerl' [8A] to finish his climbing day. 10 minutes later he returned, his crashpad on his back and his patented "I've sent something you can't touch" smile on his face. Having climbed 8 8th grade problems he was finally feeling almost human with bleeding tips and a not as omnipotent as usual biceps. But not to be dismayed by his fingers we packed our stuff (after Jule climbed 'Dr. Pinch', a remarkable send as well) and continued our walk through a shortenend history of hardcore bouldering in Switzerland by walking uphill to 'Schule des lebens' [~8B/+]. After a recently broken hold the grade of the chironico classic might again be somewhere in the 8B range but not quite out of Jan's reach. He stuck the big move third go and finished left in 'No mystery' [~8A+], returned to the ground and then climbed the right exit first go after checking out the top part of the problem.

Having climbed his tenth boulder we managed to drag Jan to one final boulder, 'Freak brothers', supposed to be a soft 8A. Today it wasn't. I've known Jan for years and I swear I've not seen his arms as long as today, trying to match the crimps and finishing those nifty brothers off. To make a long story short, Jan dug deep and shifted into beast mode, fighting his way to the mantle and to the top of the problem.

After enjoying a victory pizza, two thoughts came to my mind. First: give this dude some projects, I have yet to see a problem he is incapable of climbing and second: how many people on earth could do what Jan did today?

I asked him how he thinks of being capable of climbing so many hard boulders in such a short time and he answered smiling: Just don't tell Adam Ondra. If he feels challenged by this, he'll go and climb 50 in a session.

I don't know if this is of interest for anybody outside of my apartment, but I was in awe enough to write you a short summary of our day.

Well Lukas, eleven 8A's and harder in a day... I'd say this was most definitely of interest to the rest of the climbing world!

Jan Hojer is sponsored by: Mammut, Mad Rock and Chimpanzodrome