Seb Bouin Climbs One of the World’s Hardest Sport Routes

Seb Bouin has continued his streak of impressive redpoints in the Hanshelleren Cave of Flatanger with a send of Change 5.15c.

The test-piece 55-metre line was established by Adam Ondra in 2012 as the first 5.15c ever climbed. It wasn’t repeated until 2020, when Stefano Ghisolfi made the second ascent. Bouin and Ghisolfi used a kneepad, but Ondra did not.

Change is divided into two pitches, so after sending them independently Bouin’s goal was to link them. “I didn’t know if there would be enough for the entire route,” said Bouin. “My body started to feel crushed by this cave. I felt tired from the trip.”

With only a few days to attempt the full Change, Bouin went to work. However, conditions were bad on the first day with a lot of humidity. “A lot of the key holds were wet,” said Bouin. “I decided to not climb and wait for the next day.”

While some of the folds dried over night, several were still wet. Bouin climbed the first pitch and then passed the first crux on pitch two, but fell at the next difficult section. “The holds were really humid and almost wet,” said Bouin.

“I still felt really tired from my attempt on the previous day, and I didn’t sleep well during the night,” said Bouin about his third day trying the full link-up. “I wasn’t planning to climb – I wanted to wait until I felt ready. I went up to the cave to check out conditions and to belay my girlfriend. The conditions were exceptional.”

Despite not feeling fully recovered, Bouin opted to go for the send. “I was literally flowing through the holds,” he said. “It was so much different than the day before. I am happy to say that I made no mistakes and felt the belief that I could make it to the end, and I did. I am not usually a ‘last day, last try’ kind of guy, but this time it happened.”

During his trip to Norway, Bouin climbed 5.15c, 515b/c and three 5.15a’s. Read about his first ascent of Nordic Marathon 5.15b/c here.