Ben Hanna Sends New 5.14d in New Mexico

American Ben Hanna has sent a new 30-metre 5.14d in New Mexico called Helsinki at Caballo Lake. The route is a link-up of Public Enemy 5.14a into Midget Proof 5.12a and finishes up to the anchor of Serenity 5.13b/c. The line to the Midget Proof anchor had been climbed by Cody Roth but the extension was a project.

The route is in the Bat Cave Area outside of the small town Truth or Consequence. See Hanna’s route report on MountainProject.com here. Hanna has a number of first ascents in the cave, including Enemy T 5.14a, Bronner 5.14a and Titanaboa 5.13d. Born in 1998, Hanna is one of the youngest American climbers to ever send a new 5.14d.

So stoked I was able to put down the Helsinki project at the cave this weekend! It seems like I've been trying this forever, and it was legit impossible. I guess everything clicked though, and yesterday I was able to climb it to the anchors! The original @cody_roth line stopped at the lower chains of "Midget Proof" but I decided to go all in and kept climbing to the finish of "Serenity" adding another 35 feet of difficult climbing. I can't express how happy I am to have climbed this one! It seems like I haven't been making any progress, but it's not till I take a step back that I am able to see the full process and see how far I've actually come in the last 2 years! Special thanks to Timmy and @cody_roth for putting in so much work here! @climbbutora @gramicci @rhinoskinsolutions @sublimeclimbing @metoliusclimbing @8bplus_rockclimbing ? @suzie_climbs

A post shared by Ben Hanna (@hanna_smash) on Mar 16, 2017 at 12:31pm PDT