Jonathan Siegrist Returns to Italy and Grabs Fourth Send of Lapsus 5.15

It was considered the first 5.15b in Italy, but it might come to rest at 5.15a/b thanks to new knee-bar beta discovered earlier this year

Gripped October 27, 2021

Jonathan Siegrist was one of many top climbers who was travelling abroad at the start of the pandemic. He had to leave Italy while working on a project and head home to the U.S.A.

Fast forward 18 months, and he’s returned to Europe and climbed Lapsus at Andonno, which he’s giving a personal grade of 5.15a/b.

The long endurance line was first climbed by Stefano Ghisolfi, after projecting it for a year. Lapsus became the first 5.15b in Italy; it’s a link-up of Noia 5.14c and Anaconda 5.14b. Adam Ondra made the second ascent in 2017 and agreed with Ghisolfi’s grade of 5.15b.

In spring 2021, Marcello Bombardi made the third ascent and found a knee-bar that he used with a kneepad, which he said makes the route easier. “Lapsus has represented for me an adventure and a challenge against my difficulties and my limits,” said Bombardi after his send. “It was super thrilling and liberating to make those last three moves and go from an empty mind focused on climbing to a state of euphoria and full satisfaction to see that all the efforts and commitment paid back.”

In 2020, we touched base with Siegrist after his FA of Full Metal Brisket 5.15a in West Virginia. He told us, “I really learned climbing as a method to move through the mountains. Most of my dad’s friends, and a lot of my original role models early on really valued that. My dad, during his climbing life, was also really interested in alpinism and mountaineering. He did a trip to South America early on and even a trip to the Himalayas.

“Climbing was a tool that you would use to achieve a summit or to move through the mountains. Even for him, there was no focus necessarily on climbing. For the most part, if you can climb 5.11a or 5.10, the majority of passage through the mountains is available to you. It’s funny, his interest in difficulty really evolved with my own. As I got more interested in training and trying harder, so did he. That was a pretty cool transformation to see.”