Jakob Schubert Sends Sharma’s Neanderthal 5.15b

Jakob Schubert has made the second ascent of Chris Sharma’s Neanderthal 5.15b in Santa Linya. Sharma made the first ascent back in 2009, the crux is a big dyno after a number of cruxes near the top.

“I stuck the dyno,” said Schubert. “On my first day working this 115-move monster I thought it will take a while to be able to send. But I quickly made a lot of progress and today (my sixth day on the route) I stuck the crux move and kept it together until the top.

“I have to add that I used one kneepad for my ascent, actually the first time I ever send something hard with such a thing on, but it felt really useful. I did two knee bars on the route both would be more painful without it so I decided it‘s time.” Click to watch.

The moment @jakob.schubert stuck the dyno on @chris_sharma king line Neandertal 9b to send it in such a controlled and relaxed way. Very impressive!! Leaving the fog in the St Linya cave for the sunny cliffs of abella de la conca…job done!! #climbcatalunya #climbingholidays #coaching

A post shared by climb catalunya (@catalunyaclimb) on Dec 28, 2018 at 6:38am PST

Strong climber Gareth Parry witnessed the ascent and was quoted by 8a.nu as saying, “Classic Jakob, a cool, calculated and somewhat precision perfect ascent of another hard route.

“He looked well within his maximum. Back on the ground he said one of the hardest moments was to stay focused after the dyno and not let the mind play tricks and take over.”

Neanderthal is described as a 5.14d to a shallow two-finger pocket and a dyno to hard boulder problems with no rests.

Sharma worked on the route for two years on and off and sent the 40-metre route after falling from the last move a few days earlier.

Schubert is a double world cup winner and double world champion this year. He recently made the second ascent of El Bon Combat, which Sharma graded 5.15b/c and Schubert suggested 5.15a for.

Adam Ondra and Magnus Midtbo tried Neanderthal without success. Watch Ondra whip below.