5.15

in Canada and no Canadian had climbed the grade. The first ever climbed was 20 years ago and was sent by Alex Huber. Chasing grades and following the top senders is not for everyone, but keeping track of what has been accomplished is an important tool for knowing where the sport is going and where it has come from. Difficult sport routes are often a trickle-up result of strong climbers transitioning their indoor skills to real stone. The grade 5.15 represents the future of high climbing standards in Canada as we try to catch up to the most cutting-edge areas and climbers around the world. What can’t be ignored is that grades are subjective and often the world’s top climbers can’t agree on what certain routes should be graded. A number of those climbers have stopped grading their routes altogether.

There are 5.15s in a dozen countries, most of the areas where the world’s leading climbers are based. The U.S. has at least three confirmed 5.15s. The first was Tommy Caldwell’s Flex Luthor at Fortress of Solitude in Colorado. Caldwell redpointed the steep route in 2003 and it is yet to be repeated. The second is Jaws II in Rumney, which was first climbed in 1998 as Jaws at a grade of 5.14b, but was upgraded after a number of key holds broke. The first to send Jaws II was Vasya Vorotnikov and it was repeated in 2010 by Daniel Woods. The third ascent fell to Mike Foley and later Andrew Palmer sent it. The only other known 5.15 in the U.S. is Jumbo Love at Clark Mountain. It was first climbed by Chris Sharma in 2008 and has only been repeated once, by Ethan Pringle in 2015. Before he clipped the chains, Pringle, who became the second American to climb 5.15b with the send, said, “With Jumbo Love it is just as much pure-fitness, muscle-memory and mental-fortitude as it is a problem-solving issue – figuring out the beta. The process of modifying and refining beta is a never-ending one until I send a project.”

The grade 5.15 has been sent by over a dozen climbers, but the first to do it was Alex Huber in 1996 with his send of Open Air in Schleier Wasserfall, Austria. Huber graded it 5.14d, but Adam Ondra upgraded it to 5.15a after his send in 2008. Ondra said, “When Alex Huber did it, Action Directe was considered as 5.14c, then it was upgraded to 5.14d. Now that it is 5.14d, Open Air should be 5.15a. It took me five days and nine goes, but it was always in good condition.” Until 2008, it was believed that the f irst confirmed 5.15a was Realization in France by Chris Sharma. Since then, Ondra has become the world’s leading 5.15 climber. Some of the other 5.15 climbers include Sachi Amma, Daniel Woods, Jon Siegrist, Seb Bouin, Dani Andrada, Edu Marin, Matty Hong, Ramon Julian, Bernabè Fernandez, Fred Rouhling and Steve McClure. In 2015, American Ashima Shiraishi sent Ciudad de Dios in Santa Linya, Spain. The climb is a potential 5.15a, but the grade has not been confirmed. Shiraishi became the first female climber to send a confirmed V15 in 2016 after climbing Horizon in Japan.

Ondra has dominated the world of 5.15 with over 60 ascents of the grade, from 5.15a to 5.15c. In the early months of 2016, he made the second ascent of Sharma’s 2011 Stoking the Fire 5.15b in Spain and made the first ascent of Vicious Circle 5.15a/ b at Osp. He has three sends of 5.15c including La Dura Dura in Spain, Change in Norway and Vasil Vasil in Czechoslovakia. He has onsighted dozens of hard 5.14s and in 2015 visited Canada and attempted to onsight Dreamcatcher 5.14d on the Cacodemon boulder in Squamish. Dreamcatcher was first climbed by Chris Sharma in 2005 after he bolted the route with Sonnie Trotter. Sharma graded the route at 5.14c or 5.14d.

Dreamcatcher wasn’t repeated until Sean McColl made the second ascent in 2009. He confirmed the grade was 5.14d as one of Canada’s only climbers to have sent the grade. The route has been tried by over a dozen of the world’s best climbers, including Ondra who fell at the crux due to wet holds. The third ascent went to Squamish climber Ben Harnden in 2012. It is Canada’s hardest granite climb and possibly the hardest route in the country. It climbs an overhanging and diagonal pin scar seam and has a number of hard boulder problems. The first is a slab-to-sloper dyno, which is followed by a heel-hooking shuff le-fest and it all ends with painfully hard pinches. After Harnden’s send, Ben Spannuth, who also tried the line said, “Dreamcatcher truly demands a technically well-rounded climber, more so than any other line I’ve seen.” Mike Foley from the U.S. has attempted the route a number of times and has almost clipped the chains. “Harnden’s method for Dreamcatcher in particular is incredibly inspiring,” said Spannuth. “He’s ridiculously strong and pulls off a few non-holds that Sharma and McColl completely skipped.”

Only three other routes measure up to 5.14d. The f irst 5.14d in Canada was climbed by Trotter on the limestone cliffs of Ontario’s Lion’s Head. Trotter called his route Forever Expired and after his send said, “It is by far the steepest climb I’ve ever done. It overhangs 20 metres and has a 10- metre horizontal roof.” The crux is 10 metres up the route and involves an 11- move boulder problem with three monos and ends with a big throw. Trotter said it goes at about V12. The route took him 10 days to redpoint and he only needed eight to climb Necessary Evil 5.14c so in the end graded it 5.14d. Trotter became the third North American to establish a 5.14d and was belayed by Lev Pinter on the first free ascent. Forever Expired was a turning point for Trotter. “After that route, I lost inspiration to climb hard grades,” he said. “I went through a progression where I really wanted a 5.14d and wanted to climb as hard as I possibly could. Then once I got there, I realized it was a little boring. Sport climbing wasn’t motivating me as much anymore.” He had badly injured his finger during the project, but one week after the send he climbed The Monument at White Bluff