Anak Verhoeven Sends 5.14d/15a in Spain
She was one of the top competition climbers in the 2010s and has established sport routes up to 5.15
Anak Verhoeven has climbed Las Meninas 5.14d/15a in Rodellar, Spain. The first ascent was by Jorge Diaz-Rullo and repeated by Jon Flor.
“The route is very endurancy and overhanging without many rests to recover,” Verhoeven told Fanatic Climbing. “It has a crimpy first half and a roof part which is hard to understand at first. The most difficult for me was to find the beta for this complex sequence, but once I found it, I felt fairly confident climbing this part. The other main difficulty was climbing the crux on small holds which comes after a lot of pumpy metres and has some tough moves like one with a tricky heelhook.”
In 2021, Verhoeven announced that she’s leaving the world of competition climber. She was a consistent presence on the World Cup circuit from 2013 to 2019, and left the tour with three gold medals, and a lot of top-three finishes. In 2014, she became the European Junior Champion at the Edinburgh event. In 2015, she won the World Youth Championship in Italy, where she competed for the last time as a junior. In the same year, she finished fourth in her first open comp.
In 2016, she competed at the World Championships in Paris, where she finished in second after Janja Garnbret. She then won bronze at the Lead World Cup. Verhoeven ended the year as number one on the IFSC world ranking list. In 2017, she won both the World Games and IFSC Climbing European Championships.
In September 2017, she made the first ascent of Sang Neuf 5.14d at Pierrot Beach in France, becoming the first woman to make the FA at the grade. She then made the first ascent of Sweet Neuf, which links Sang Neuf with the 25-metre second-pitch of Home Sweet Home 5.14c/d and suggested 5.15a. She became the second woman to climb 5.15a after Margo Hayes and the first to claim a first ascent at the grade.
In June 2019, Cédric Lachat made the second ascend of Sweet Neuf and confirmed the grade. In December 2017, Verhoven established and made the FA of Ciudad de Dios pa la Enmienda 5.14d/15a in Santa Linya, Spain. In November 2019, she climbed her second 5.15a with Joe Mama in Oliana, Spain.
Earlier this year, she sent Inferno 5.14d/15a – watch below.
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