Francois Bergeron Sends El Infierno de Dante’s Extension 5.14a

Quebec climber Francois “Frank” Bergeron, who spends most of his time living in the Canadian Rockies or travelling to warmer climates, has sent El Infierno de Dante’s Extension 5.14a in Mexico. Bergeron has been touring sport crags for the better part of two decades ever since he had his alpine gear stolen in Chamonix and he switched to crag climbing. With his long hair, beard and happy attitude, Bergeron is known by many who’ve spend time in Canmore, Squamish, El Potrero Chico, El Salto, Red River Gorge or any of the other many famous climbing areas.

El Infierno de Dante is 41 meters long with five cruxes and was first climbed by Alex Honnold about 10 years ago and then Ulric Rousseau added a slight variation, both are 5.13+. The extension was climbed later at 5.14a. On sendage.com, Bergeron said, “The last [crux] one is now harder since I broke a good crimp and bits and pieces of holds. Happy to have sent before destroying it further.”

Other Canadians who’ve sent the line include Dan Beland, Graham McGrenere, Yannick Neufeld-Cumming and Jared Nelson. Be sure to follow Bergeron on Instagram below and photographer Jan Novak.

Yesterday I managed to climb a long standing project called El Infierno de Dante’s extension, 14a. Thanks @climberchica for your positive energy, @robyn_erbesfield_raboutou for reminding me how great of a line it is, @madissonsingleton for calming my nerves with your harmonium and laughter , @sara.pax for your countless belays and faith, Levy Desmarais who needs to get Instagram, @alitaclimbing for forcing me to find a sequence that makes sense, @veeswizzle for listening to my psychological meltdowns, @wildrootsflowers for understanding the importance of this specific goal of mine, @so_foucault and friends for their support as well. Photo by @jan_novak_photography

A post shared by Francois (@francoisbeargeron) on Feb 22, 2019 at 3:18pm PST