Climbing with pro-climbers - Interview with Pablo Scorza

Can you tell me about yourself?

I was born in Brazil, a country where climbing is not really popular. Everybody there is very focused on football and surf. I always felt myself very connected to the mountains. Brazil is a very tropical country, warm and humid. I have always felt myself like in the wrong place: I like dry places, I like rock…I always tried to travel around the world. I climbed in Patagonia, in Argentina, etc. Once I came to Spain, I realized that it was my country, even though I was not born there. When I realized I wanted to be a climber, I knew I had to find another place to live and Spain was that place. 

I started to study physiotherapy because the only thing I wanted to do with my life was helping people take care of their body, be healthy, take care of their posture, etc. because I had myself a postural problem when younger and I had to visit a physiotherapist specialized in postural rehabilitation. She taught me a lot about my body, how it works, how the muscles are intertwined, etc. and I got super psyched with it as I was understanding how everything worked and, when I looked at my arm, I could see beyond the skin and understand how it moves and how it works. When I was sick, I could suddenly understand where the sickness come from, how to address it and how to prevent it. 

All these things were fascinating for me and I studied physiotherapy to understand my body even better. I am not a big fan of medication and chemicals. I believe that for each medicine, there is a non-chemical alternative that often works even better whilst respecting the integrity of the body. I do not believe in surgery or tools - I like natural ways of healing. I started with studying simple physiotherapy, but, to become the professional I am now, I needed to study much more and include various manual therapies. So, I studied physiotherapy, then specialized in osteopathy, chiropractic, nerve/neuronal mobilization. Apart from these manual techniques, I also specialized in postural techniques like Pilates, yoga, etc. and studied acupuncture. I started my studies in 1995 and it lasted 7 years. 

Finally, I became specialist in physiology of exercise and training and in psycho-mobility and psychosomatic.

I am passionate about nutrition and I studied it extensively. I then used all these studies and wide range of interests combined with my experience as climber to develop a concept called functional bio-mechanics. This concept was developed in 2002. It is focused on preventive training and on how to prevent injuries.

Nowadays, 15 years after, I mostly work with chronic pain. I treat climbers with yearlong pain that could not be treated by other means. 

How did this project with Rockbusters come to life?

I have known Rockbusters since the beginning. I like the concept of taking group of people to the rocks accompanied by professionals with safety and respect for nature. The concept of the pro climbers’ week was to allow professional climbers to teach and share their experience and skills to non-professionals. For example, Hazel Findlay trains people to overcome their fears and get mentally strong, Adam Ondra taught how to onsight a route, Patxi taught how to train, etc.

I was invited to participate to this week by Patxi. He is consulting me for the past two years to get back to the top of his strength. He was invited to participate by Adam Ondra and he wanted me in to help participants understand how to prevent injuries from his training.

What did you think about this experience?

I like the experience a lot. It is very realistic. We met in the morning to prepare the body, then we went climbing and came back to do compensation after the climb. I very much appreciated the format. It was a very honest format.

Part of my treatment is to help climbers prepare for their projects. I am with the climber each day and help prepare the body and mind for specific projects. I help prepare the body for the activity they want to do and do the compensation for after the specific activity. It is like being in an expedition, it is super cool.

What are your projects for the future – both in terms of climbing and professionally?

I want to keep doing treatments. I need more time with each client. I want to focus more on quality and not on quantity. I cannot see more than 2 people per day. To reach and teach more people, I am trying to contact big companies to get sponsorship to specialized in training strong climbers. So that I can do videos and personalized the training for famous climbers, on how to prevent injuries, etc.