Kai Lightner on Jumbo Love 5.15b
The highly accomplished climber has shared a video of himself on the hard American route
Kai Lightner has shared a clip of himself working on Jumbo Love 5.15b on Clark Mountain, one of the most famous routes in North America. The route was first climbed by Chris Sharma.
About Jumbo Love, Lightner said, “This route has been top of mind for months now, with all of my training and preparation this season leading up to the opportunity to work this route. It’s been a pleasure working it for the past few weeks, and I’m excited to have made such great progress towards linking the moves and hopefully sending the route.”
Jumbo Love had been repeated by Ethan Pringle, Jonathan Siegrist and Séb Bouin. A direct variation was climbed by Bouin at 5.15c, read about it here. When Sharma redpointed it in 2008, Jumbo Love became the world’s first route graded 5.15b. It was bolted by Randy Leavitt in three pitches, but Sharma envisioned a 76-metre single-pitch route. It starts with a 20-metre section of 5.13 that leads to 30 metres of 45-degree overhanging 5.14+, which includes a crux with inverted footholds and a sloping pinches. It tops out with another burly 5.13 sequence.
Over the past year, Lightner has climbed several hard routes, including Planet Garbage 5.14d, Life of Villains 5.14d, Ciudad de Dios 5.14d/15a, and made the first ascent of Death of Villains 5.15a. In 2013, he became one of the youngest climbers ever to redpoint 5.14c with his ascent of Southern Smoke at Red River Gorge. He followed it up the following year with a win of the Youth World Championships and a send of Era Vella 5.14d in Spain.
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