Seb Bouin Tries a Stefano Ghisolfi 5.15b, Injures His Knee
A deep drop knee on L’Arenauta leads to an audible pop, ending his projecting on the route
In late 2023, Seb Bouin visited the huge limestone cave of Grotta dell’Arenauta in Sperlonga, south of Rome, Italy. His goal for the trip was to repeat Stefano Ghisolfi’s L’Arenauta 5.15b (9b). Bouin just released the latest film in his “Climbing Italy” series, where he details his time on the route. You can watch the seven-minute video below.
Bouin had a tough time with Ghisolfi’s beta for the crux of L’Arenauta, instead opting for a seriously deep drop knee. His sequence ended up being too much for the joint. After hearing a pop, he knew he injured something, and had to stop projecting the route. He instead tackled La Teoria del Gest 5.14d, an Adam Ondra first ascent from 2017. He sent the route on his third go.
“It is true that long journeys change your spirit, and works the same with long routes,” said Ghisolfi on Instagram after making the first ascent of L’Arenauta in February 2022. “I came here with the goal to send this project bolted 20 years ago by [Giuliano Tarquini] but I failed on the first trip, and had to come back with stronger calves. The section after the rest stayed humid for few days, but not today, and I immediately grabbed the opportunity to try hard. It felt so hard during the whole process, and yet so easy during the send, that is quite difficult to propose a grade.”
Seb Bouin tries L’Arenauta 5.15b
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