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Action Directe Gets 19th Send by Stefano Carnati

The Italian crusher Stefano Carnati had just turned 18 when he joined the history books by becoming the 19th climber to send Action Directe at Frankenjura. The climb has maintained its status as being the first 5.14d ever climbed. The first ascent was in 1991 by Wolfgang Güllich. The route is short and sharp with demanding one- and two-finger pockets from bottom to top.

Carnati started to focus on the burly 45 degree line in the summer of 2013. He managed all the moves except the crux dyno. In 2014, he couldn’t link all of the moves and in 2015 he fell off the last difficult move. In total, he attempted the route nearly 70 times. After his send, he said, “With this route I’ve understood how hard it could be to try a route at your limit far from home. Since I started climbing, I’ve always had the desire to try it one day as I really like pockets but above all for its history. I’ve been watching videos of the routes countless times.” Below is the list of send. In 2005, British climber Richard Simpson claimed to have climbed it, but the ascent was contested based on Simpson’s exaggerations over the years and no proof of the send.

Sends of Action Directe
1. Wolfgang Güllich of Germany in 1991
2. Alexander Adler of Germany in 1995
3. Iker Pou of Spain in 2000
4. Dave Graham of USA in 2001
5. Christian Bindhammer of Germany 2003
6. Dai Koyamada of Japan in 2005
7. Markus Bock of Germany in 2005
8. Kilian Fischhuber Austria (2006)
9. Adam Ondra of Czech Republic in 2008
10. Patxi Usobiaga of Spain in 2008
11. Gabriele Moroni of Italy in 2010
12. Jan Hojer of Germany in 2010
13. Adam Pustelnik of Poland in 2010
14. Felix Knaub of Germany in 2011
15. Rustam Gelmanov of Russia in 2012
16. Alexander Megos of Germany in 2014
17. Felix Neumärker of Germany in 2015
18. Julius Westphal of Germany in 2015
19. Stefano Carnati of Italy in 2015

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