CIA - Climbing Intelligence Agency

We talk to the extremely talented Iranian climber Sarina Ghaffari. Sarina won double Gold medals at the Asian Youth Games in 2024 and is now trying to get to the top among the seniors. Recently, she moved to Grenoble, France, to study and train.

We talk about her background, how it all started, competitions, training, studies and more.

By and with Björn Pohl & Vladek Zumr, The Climbing Intelligence Agency

Annie Sanders, from Dallas, TX, is a competition climber from the USA.

In 2025 she became the first US woman to win Gold in both Lead and Boulder in the same season, and in 2026, she took it one step further by taking double Golds at the Prague World Climbing Series.

In total she has won 8 World Cup/Climbing Series competitions. Four in Lead and four in Boulder.

We talk about training, World Climbing Series, PCL, Olympics and more.

By and with Björn Pohl & Vladek Zumr, The Climbing Intelligence Agency

Luka Fonda is deeply involved in Slovenian and international Sport climbing and Bouldering.

He is a national coach and owner of the Plus Climbing gym in Koper, Slovenia, where he recently hosted his 5th, and Slovenia's 30th, World Cup/Climbing Series.

We talk about how he ended up here and what it takes to organize a World Climbing Series event.

By and with Björn Pohl & Vladek Zumr, the Climbing Intelligence Agency

The interrogation continues.

To be continued.

We had a plan. Topics, questions etc.

We didn't get very far, so we need at least one more session.

We sat down with Roman Krajnik, coach of Janja Garnbret, to talk about The Pro Climbing League. What did we expect?What did we experience?Do we have any suggestions for making it even better?From now on, the plan is to talk with Roman more regularly, especially during the competition season, but also if something extraordinary happens.'By and with Björn Pohl & Vladek Zumr, the CIA

An interrogation of the co-founder of the Pro Climbing League.

Obviously a lot about PCL and the story behind it, but also Charlie's story. How did he end up here?

By and with: Björn Pohl & Vladek Zumr, The CIA

Yannick probably doesn't need an introduction, even though he himself still doesn't think he's a name in climbing.

When it comes to finger strength, very few, if anyone, can match him, and consequently, in the summer of 2025, he became the first to flash an 8C boulder problem.

He is also an extremely accomplished lead climber and recently he repeated Excalibur, 9b+, which is half a grade harder than his previous best Ratstaman vibration, 9b/+.

On the competition scene, he has won one boulder WC and has a World Championship title in combined (2021) and a Bronze i Boulder (2019). In Lead he has reached the podium once and the final many times.

Wow, that's too long for "no introduction needed"

So, how did it go in Maltatal? Bügeleisen sit, ✅️ "Easy"

By and with: Björn Pohl & Vladek Zumr,

The Climbing Intelligence Agency

A long and open hearted talk with Alex Megos about the past, present and future, projecting, competitions, goals, ethics and much more.

1,5h of quality entertainment.By and with Björn Pohl & Vladek Zumr, The CIA

Rosa Rekar is quickly racing through the ranks!

20 years young, she has already been in five World Cup finals and at the World Championship in Seoul she made it a Slovenian double by grabbing the Silver medal.

But how did it start and what plans does she have for the future?