Laurel Falk Sends Test-Piece 5.13+ in Arizona
With her send she confirms the grade of 5.13c/d as opposed to the original grading of 5.14
Laurel Falk on the 40-metre Mount Lemmon granite testpiece Doubt 5.13c/d at the Reef of Rocks. Originally graded 5.14a and FA’d by Alex Kirkpatrick in 2013, it had sat dormant since it was envisioned & bolted in the 1980s by Ray Ringle.
A second ascent didn’t come until Jack Hereford repeated the route in 2018. A couple other repeats in the proceeding years all came about using a hold in the upper crux referred to as ‘the ear.’ In 2021 a down grade was proposed that was confirmed by Falk after her ascent the following year.
The handful of previous ascentionists all ranged from 5’11” to 6’4″ in height. Falk, at 5’1″, was forced to find her own sequences through the majority of the techy and mentally taxing line. Watch below
Doubt 5.13+
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