Cédric Lachat Climbs Chilam Balam 5.15a/b
The route was climbed in 2003 and became the first route graded 5.15c, but Adam Ondra downgraded it
Cédric Lachat has repeated Chilam Balam, which was famously climbed in 2003 by Barnabé Fernandez who graded it 5.15c, but 20 years later the grade has settled at 5.15a/b. It’s 85 metres long and includes over 230 moves.
When graded, Fernandez’s 5.15c was far harder than anything that had been climbed at the time. Because he refused to name his belayer or talk to media about the route, many didn’t believe his claim that he climbed it.
Adam Ondra made the second ascent in only three days in 2011 and suggested a soft 5.15b. About the route, he said, “There are two underclings, the footholds are bad, you need to be fast and at the same time really precise and the move that follows is really powerful. I was really lucky that I didn’t fall there and I couldn’t believe that I latched the two-finger pocket because I was so pumped. But I did.”
Other climbers who’ve climbed it include Dani Andrada in 2015, Edu Marin in 2015, Seb Bouin in 2017, Sindre Saether in 2019, Jon Flor in 2021 and Yu Okumara earlier this year. Watch Ondra repeat Chilam Balam below.
