V15 Send 18 Months After Leukemia Diagnosis
Tristan Chen climbed the hard problem in 2023, you can currently donate to a fundraiser page to support him
At the end of 2023, Tristan Chen climbed Desperanza V15 in Hueco Tanks, which was first climbed by Daniel Woods 15 years ago. It’s is a low start to the classic Esperanza V14. A video featuring his send just dropped on YouTube.
After climbing Desperanza, Chen wrote on 8a.nu, “With bones scorched of their marrow, and without ruin to the whole body or whole mind, I must continue forwards remaining optimistic and moral in the face of an unknown future.” Chen sent Desperanze 18 months after being diagnosed with leukemia and shortly before doing a bone marrow transplant. He’s currently raising money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, which you can donate to here.
About the V15 sit, Chen said, “The sit only adds a six move V7 [7B] into Esperanza so it’s quite easy to think that it’s not much harder, but the bottom moves are quite extended and take away energy in such a way that the rest of the boulder becomes harder… To me it felt a bit harder than Dreamtime or Pegasus, and a step above the other V14’s I’ve done this year, so lower end V15, but still maintains the grade.”
Read more about Chen’s treatment with Jonathan Gutman, MD, on the University of Colorado Cancer Center school of medicine page here.
Desperanza V15
Woods on the FA
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