Jesse Grupper Sends a New River Gorge 5.15a
The redpoint comes shortly after he visited Kentucky and flashed a classic 5.14c
Jesse Grupper has sent Full Metal Brisket 5.15a at New River Gorge after several days of projecting the powerful line. In October, Grupper qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics – read more here – and last week he flashed Pure Imagination 5.14c in Red River Gorge.
Full Metal Brisket is the hardest route at New River Gorge. It was bolted by Lee Robinson, first climbed by Jonathan Siegrist in 2020 and repeated by Tyler Thompson earlier this year. “I wandered up the thing early in our trip here to find a route that, uniquely, seemed characterized by how bad the holds were and not so much by how far apart they were,” said Siegrist. “A rarity in The New. It took him a number of sessions an “nearly exploding my knee to sort out the hyper cryptic crux.”
Grupper said that he’s now going to shift focus back to training for competition climbing. After his send of Full Metal Brisket, Siegrist said to Grupper, “Great job dude. Glad it put up a little bit of a fight.”
Within the 63,000 acres of New River Gorge National River are over 1,400 rock climbs. “The New” has become one of the most popular climbing areas in the country, with cliffs made up of a very hard sandstone. The rock is very featured, and an abundance of crack and face routes are available.
Full Metal Brisket 5.15a
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