Four years ago, Alex Megos was the first person ever to climb a route with difficulty level 9a "onsight", that means on the first attempt. This historic ascent in the Spanish climbing area Siruana made him world-famous in the scene, Megos is now one of the world's top climbers. And not only that: he could also make his hobby to his profession.
In an interview with ISPO.com, he revealed that, as a more famous climber, things were going steadily uphill, with more and more sponsors, so that the 24-year-old was ultimately able to make a living from his sport. Since then, it has ranked one of the most difficult mountain routes in the world after the other.
On the ground, he has a new sponsor: the brand Gore-Tex. "Climbing is booming. Young people in particular are becoming increasingly interested in this fascinating sport. With Alex in our team we want to get even closer to the climbing community," says Andreas Marmsoler, responsible for sponsoring at W. L. Gore & Associates.
Megos, who supports the Gore-Tex-athletes team around Pep Guardiola or the ski mountaineer Greg Hill, started climbing as a child. His father showed him the nearby rocks around his home city Erlangen in the Franconian Jura. How high the support for Megos is, is not known.
Through consistent training Alex was not only successful on the rock, but also on the wall: 2009 and 2010 he became European Youth Champion, in the following year second at the World Championships (Youth) and in 2017 second at the Boulder European Championships.
With Megos, Marmsoler wants to "inspire people to pursue their climbing goals and find their lifestyle and we want our brand to make a positive contribution to their outdoor experiences". Or in the best case, like Alex Megos, to make their hobby to their profession.
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