Théo Blass Sends 5.14b at 10, Youngest to Climb the Grade

Théo Blass has climbed Souvenirs du pic 5.14b in Saint Guilhem le Desertin, France, and has become the youngest climber to send the grade at only 10 years old. It took him less than 10 sessions this year to get the redpoint.

Ashima Shiraishi, Adam Ondra and Illya Bakhmet-Smolensky climbed their first 5.14b at age 11. Bakhmet-Smolensky then climbed 5.14d at 13 years old. The climber’s site 8a.nu reported: “From the dad’s perspective, there are two key takeaways from the experience of belaying, watching, encouraging, counseling, supporting and occasionally arguing with Theo about beta: (1) adult grades are a bit of a nonsense when it comes to kids – two of the hardest moves on the route for Theo are among the easiest for adults – so not worth getting too excited about grades (especially when you are under 1m40).”

The second is: “Even if fear, frustration and failure are part of the game, climbing kids of the world, enjoy every moment of climbing, projecting, trying hard, sending and try to have fun, and confidence – the future belongs to you.” Video of Illya Bakhmet-Smolensky sending 5.14d at 13 below.

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Théo Blass, 10 ans plus jeune grimpeur dans le 8c. Lien en bio ! * Théo Blass, 10, yougest person to climb 8c. Link in bio ! * ? Vladimir Arnaoudov #climbingphotography #climbing #escalade #climbingrocks #climbinginspiration #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #climbing_is_my_passion #herault #climbing_worldwide #fanaticclimbing #rockclimbing #escalar #arrampicata #klettern. #outdoorclimbing #rockclimbingnews

A post shared by FANATIC Climbing (@fanatic.climbing) on Jun 11, 2020 at 5:26am PDT

Chromosome X 5.14d