Magnus Midtbø Tries to Climb Silence 5.15d

Norwegian rock climber Magnus Midtbø, who has the most YouTube subscribers of any climber with over 2.3 million, recently travelled to Norway to try the world’s hardest route with Silence 5.15d. The route was first climbed by Adam Ondra in 2017, but despite being tried by some of the world’s best climbers, it’s never been repeated.

The crux of the route involves a strenuous series of steep moves through a crack feature, which is why 5.14 crack climber Pete Whittaker checked it out a few years ago. About the crack, he said, “I found an alternative crack climbers sequence to the end of the crux, which used some technical foot and thin hand jams…shame for me that the crack is marooned between impossibly hard looking V14 and 13 climbing.” Stefano Ghisolfi recently climbed through a series of crux sections, read more about his progress here.

Midtbø became the fourth climber ever to onsight a 5.14c with his send of Cosi Fan Tutte in Spain back in 2013. Over the years, he’s gone on to climb hard routes like Thor’s Hammer 5.15a and Ali Hulk Extension 5.15b. He retired from competition climbing in May 2017, saying, “I still get motivated just by climbing, I think some people need a specific goal, but I’ve never felt like I needed one.”

Magnus on Silence 5.15d