Andrea Chelleris, 16, Had a Strong Year on Rock and Plastic
From winning golds to sending 5.15, here's a look back at the Italian's breakout year
Italian climber Andrea Chelleris, who’s 16 years old, had his best year on the rock to date, with several hard repeats up to 5.15a. He started the year off the famous Estado Crítico 5.14d in January, which he sent in three days after eight tries – watch a video of his send below. He then spent time focusing on comps before returning to the rock in September, when he repeated Ultimatum 5.15a in Arco, noting after, “Incredible endurance; the scariest thing was that I almost fell at the last sketchy crux just under the anchor.
Then came his recent trip to Spain, where he put down several test-piece routes. First was Años Después 5.14d in Siurana, which took him six days. He made the send after a hold broke, saying it felt hard for the grade. He then repeated Víctimas Pérez 5.14d in Margalef, noting after, “It felt so good to send this. After the send of 20 Años Después, I gained amazing shape that for sure helped.” Then after three days and six tries, he climbed Víctimes del Futur for his third 5.14d of the trip.
His most recent send, which came at the end of December, was of the amazing Ciudad de Dios 5.14d. It was his eleventh 5.14d to date. “From the first go I could do the moves well and I started falling on the first crux on my second try,” Chelleris said on 8a.nu. “Then yesterday I came and got close on my first 3 attempts but the conditions were humid so every time something was slipping. I wanted to go back home to try it the next day but when a bit of sun got on the wall the conditions got better so I decided to give one more try. I was tired so I had to do all the moves without any mistakes. It worked out and I passed the crux but it wasn’t finished because I had all the Fabela part, so on the jug I stayed a lot to get all the pump away in order to arrive fresh on the very last crux. I had to fight a bit but fortunately I wasn’t close to fall.” Also in December, he climbed Wrestling With An Alligator V13, and Full Clip V13.
On plastic this year, Chelleris won gold at the IFSC Youth European Cup in Toulouse-Tournefeuille, bronze at the IFSC Youth European Cup in Bologna, and bronze at the IFSC Youth European Cup in Imst. He also finished eighth in the senior competition in Imst. Chelleris is one of many young climbers around the world who represent the next generation of limit-pushing athletes.
Estado Critico
