Jules Marchaland Climbs His First 5.15b
The 23-year-old has been on fire the past month, ticking 5.14d, 5.15a, and now 5.15b
Yesterday, French climber Jules Marchaland made the first ascent of Le bruit de l’acid 5.15b (9b) in Claret, France. The route is his first of the grade. Le bruit de l’acid is an endurance test. After an 5.13a intro, a poor rest follows before launching into two stacked boulder problems. The first clocks in at around V13, the second around V10, with no rest in between. “You basically can’t chalk for 25 moves,” said Marchaland about the climb.
“Finally done,” wrote Marchaland on Instagram after his send. “When [Lucien Martinez] told me about this project, I immediately wanted to check it out. And, unsurprisingly, I loved it straight away. The crux is a mega cross dyno into a good pinch, exactly what I love. I’d never tried a hard route that suited me as well.”
“After more than 20 falls at the dyno and 4 falls at the last [easy] boulder problem I finally send this route which occupied my mind for some time,” he added. Marchaland had this to say about the grade: “We first thought it would be a hard [5.15a]. But after a lot of struggle on this crux move I started to doubt and it turned out to be way harder than I thought. This route is much more in my style than any routes I’ve ever tried. And for sure harder than the [5.15a’s] I’ve done. This is why I grade it as a [5.15b]. I hope it will motivate people to come and try it.”
On March 28, Marchaland sent Beyond 5.15a in Pic Saint-Loup on his second go. The Seb Bouin route was his fifth of the grade. He sent three 5.15a routes in 2023 including First Ley in Margalef, Supercrackinette in Saint Leger, and Punt’X in Gorges du Loup. Late last spring he completed Three Degrees of Separation at Céüse. A few days after sending Beyond, Marchaland repeated Guère de bruit 5.14d in Claret.
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