The new Kinder Cakes is Rifle’s first 5.15a
The new Joe Kinder sport route climbs up the impressive and steep Skull Cave
Rifle is one of Colorado’s most popular crags with a storied history, and thanks to Joe Kinder it now has its first 5.15a with Kinder Cakes. It takes a direct line up and out of the steep Skull Cave, as noted by Andrew Bisharat at Evening Sends.
Kinder has a number of hard first ascents to his name, including Bone Tomahawk 5.14d/15a and Life of Villains 5.15a. Over the past few decades, he’s climbed hundreds of hard routes up to 5.15-. In 2016, Jon Cardwell bagged the first ascent of Fat Camp 5.14d in Rifle, a route equipped by Kinder. His first climbing experience was in Estes Park on a family vacation when he was 13.
Rifle has hundreds of classic limestone routes, including a few 5.14ds, like Shadowboxing and Planet Garbage. The climbing at Rifle is found in a riparian mountain canyon 300 km west of Boulder. Like many popular limestone crags, many of the old routes can upgraded due to the grease factor.
Watch Joe Kinder make the FA of Planet Garbage 5.14d
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