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Hard International Sends Include Strong Young Climbers

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Laura Rogora is only 14 but has sent 5.14d and recently onsighted Batuka 5.13+ in Margalef. After her send, she said, “The route is divided in two sections with a very good rest in the middle. The first four bolts are hard and I almost fell. The second part is easier but there is another hard move. I’m staying here just for one week so I think I will climb only onsight.” She then onsighted Codigo Norte a 5.13+ in Santa Linya.

Drew Ruana is a 16-year-old American crusher who recently sent five 5.14s in Red River Gorge. He sent Lucifer 5.14c in four goes, Southern Smoke 5.14c in six, Thanatopsis 5.14a/b in three and flashed Transworld Depravity 5.14a. He onsighted Last of Bohicans 5.13d, White Man’s Shuffle 5.13d, The Madness 5.13c, Pushin’ up Daisies 5.13c and sent a number of other hard routes during his six days visit.

There have been a number of hard sends over the past few weeks around the world. In Ekne, which is two hours south of the popular Flatanger in Norway, 43-year-old Gudmund Grønhaug made the first ascent of Blodspor 5.14b, which he bolted 11 years ago. He has made over 50 first ascents at the steep crag. Adam Ondra had tried the route a few years ago and was then invited by Grønhaug to Flatanger for his first visit and he has now established a number of 5.15s there.

Stéphane Hanssens has repeated Ramon Julian Puigblanue’s hard line La Reina Mora 5.14d. Hanssens was a strong young comp climber who spent a month projecting the route that was originally graded 5.14c. He said after his send, “Really happy and what amazing line. Thank you to all the people who helped me in this project.” Nicolas Pelorson is 18 and recently made his third 5.14d first ascent with a send of his route Ametsa in L’Abattoir, which is a new crag near Grenoble.

Polish climber Piotr Schab is 19 and has repeated Chris Sharma’s Papichulo 5.15a in Oliana, which has been sent by at lease eight climbers. After his send, he said, “A perfect route that I’m going to miss.” He sent his first 5.14d four years ago with a send of Era Vella. Anak Verhoeven recently became the first female to send Bronx 5.14c in Orgon on her third attempt. Watch the video here.

Strong 25-year-old Fabian Buhl is a top boulderer who recently spent three days alone on Alex Huber’s 10-pitch Wetterbock 5.14b on Wetterbockwand in winter. Buhl belayed himself using a modified rope system and grigri. He did not redpoint the 5.14, but he did climb all of the moves in snowy conditions. “When Alex Huber told me about his new line at the Wetterbockwand, I was blown away as it offers steep bullet limestone,” Buhl said. “It is very runout and in a pretty remote area. Months later, I started thinking about a possible solo winter ascent. I knew it was going to be very tough. Huber was skeptic about my idea, but supported me from the beginning. Not only is the climbing is difficult, the steep snowy approach has a high risk of avalanches and takes about four hours.

“As usual Huber’s bolts were far apart, after the first bigger falls I started to trust my self-belay system again and did not care anymore. The only thing I worried about was the next belay, the air mile collection grew steadily. Sometimes I spend 40 min in the runout climbing back and forth, not knowing my way and trying to find the path of least resistance. Deicing holds with my free hand or cleaning snow from ledges. Waking up in the cold each day at 4:30 am and climbing until it got dark, was a new experience and it felt good to see how my body works in such a situation. I was 100 per cent focused at all times and felt confident, I did not question any decision I made and never felt tired. Only after reaching the save trail to the car, the adrenaline dropped and I was overcome by a crazy fatigue.”

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