The American sport climbing star despatched the third repeat of Tommy Caldwell’s early-2000s masterpiece, he introduced right now.
For virtually 2 a long time, “Flex Luthor” perched alone and quiet on the distant Fortress of Solitude, exterior Rifle, Colo.
Then final yr, Matty Hong and Carlo Traversi registered two fast repeats. Both world-class climbers confirmed grades of 5.15b/9b, elevating the query on the time of whether or not the route did the truth is represent the planet’s first route of the grade.
But right now, Jonathan Siegrist put the matter to relaxation with 4 fast phrases in an Instagram chat.
“How hard does this thing rate on your ‘how hard is it really’ meter?” I requested.
“I’d say approachable 9a+ [5.15a],” he replied.
That was it. Siegrist saved it easy, stating that he had used hand jams on the route the place he might. (Intuitively, Caldwell used that very same approach.)
Siegrist would want each little bit of relaxation he might get. Hong discovered himself beset by endurance woes on the 120-foot marathon throughout his Oct. 2021 try. Breakable footholds added to the specificity of the problem.
Asked about these particularities, Siegrist remained quick in his method, hewing to prior ascensionists and their assessments of problem.
He shot me a photograph from the ship, and similar to that, he disappeared again into sport climbing’s cavernous higher echelons — as resolute and sinewy as he had appeared.
Jonathan Siegrist Climbs First Repeat of ‘Kinder Cakes’ in Rifle