Hello from Innsbruck! My name is Karo, I’m 28 years old and a former pro climber.

How did you get started in the world of climbing?

When I was 4 years old, I joined the comp circuit as a "mini" - thanks to my parents, who are also passionate climbers and always took me to the crag. At 13 I joined the Austrian Youth National Team, did Boulder and Lead comps and afterwards the adult team for boulder worldcups. My best result was a 5th place in Chongqing in 2016.

Why did you stop competing? 

In 2018 I decided to stop competing and start enjoying climbing outdoors. I always tried to combine outdoor and competition climbing during my career, but it’s just not completely the same - so I had not enough time for soooo many projects (in my eyes ;)

Oh, and after finishing my career, I decided to study Sports Management and now, I work in the Marketing department and try to do some crazy creative stuff.

What is your proudest moment in the world of climbing? 

After 5 years of projecting and countless sessions, one of my proudest ascent was More Shining V13, which is located in my hometown summer area Silvretta. I worked so hard for this boulder, which had a suuuuper huge shoulder move in, where I also hurt my shoulder a few years back. But I didn’t give up, managed to find a slightly new beta and then sticked the move once from the beginning - and this was enough.

The older I get, the more I get into this alpine climbing game. Since many years I used to climb one multi pitch with my dad a year. This year we decided to do something more challenging and climb a route at 3500m height on Grand Capucin near the Mont Blanc. Stunning views, outrageous experiences and a great story to tell - it was definitely worth this journey!

What is your favorite Nature Climbing gear? 

The more time I spent outdoors, the more I realized, that many other boulderers think outdoor bouldering = indoor bouldering. Often you arrive at a boulder, where 435389 tick marks are left from somebody else and the holds are totally chalked up. This makes me think every time "if these boulderers had Nature Climbing brushes, they would love to brush away their ticks!"

So my all time favourites are definitely the brushes and the Bladerunner. If I’d have enough place for my own home wall I would put those beautiful wooden holds on it.

Where can we find you?

As you see, my life is not just only climbing. During the week it’s work and training and on weekends it’s outdoor time. On rest days you can either find me ski touring in winter or hiking or biking in the warmer months. Rest days are definitely important to recover and get this energy for training back.