Community Stories

Sending V8 at 51 | LatticePlan Success Story

August 4, 2026·3 min read

Lucas Bonangelino

Sending V8 at 51 | LatticePlan Success Story

How a 51-year-old former route climber used a structured training plan for bouldering delivered in the Lattice app to break his V7 plateau and send his first V8.

Story by Lucas Bonangelino

Ticking My First Goal of 2026

I'm sharing my LatticePlan story after ticking my first goal of 2026: Ratatouille (V8/7B).

Ratatouille is a steep roof boulder, more like a route than a boulder in terms of length. I was very close to sending it at the end of 2025, but then I went on a trip in January-February 2026 and wasn’t able to get on the problem.

During the trip, I saw posts about the Lattice app and the LatticePlan on Instagram. January and February were less structured, so I decided to jump into a LatticePlan in March 2026.

Background: Breaking Through a Long-Standing Climbing Plateau

For many years, I was a route climber. I hit a pretty consistent plateau that was hard to break through:

8a in a few attempts
8a+/b with more work
8b+/c went down, but with a huge amount of effort

Two years ago, I moved to northern Chile, where the quantity, quality, and proximity of bouldering changed my focus. I really enjoy bouldering now, and it's become my main connection to climbing.

At 51 years old, my current plateau is:

I solve V6 quickly
V7 with work

Building a Base: The First Three Months on a LatticePlan

I set the first 3 months of my training plan to build a base with the goal of sending Ratatouille.

My training is always at home or on rock. For Boulder Triples or 4x4s, I used logical sections of the route.

I'd heard about ARC training before, but had never put it into practice on a real project. Looking back at the send, I intuitively give it a lot of credit for how steady my progress felt across the four weeks.

The 4-Week Projecting Training Plan

After the base phase, I put together a 4-week plan focused on projecting Ratatouille. I selected 2 open climbing days, using one of them for about 4 attempts on the boulder per session.

Out of the 4 attempts each day, 2 were very strong, the 3rd was still significant, and the 4th was worthwhile.

I progressed steadily, and the send came on the first attempt of the 4th week.

With relatively little time (4 months), my LatticePlan built confidence. I feel the training load balance is excellent.