Jonathan Siegrist has repeated Chris Sharma's Jumbo Love, 9b, at Clark Mountain, Nevada. This was the 3rd ascent after Sharma and Ethan Pringle.
Chris Sharma made the first ascent of this ~80 meter monster back in 2008 and it took till 2015 before it was repeated by Ethan Pringle. Not only the obvious difficulty of the climbing, but also its inaccesibility has probably added to the lack of traffic. To reach the start of the route you drive 10 miles on a rough dirt road where 4WD is required, then you hike up the mountain and finally you climb a 7c+ up to the start. Then all you have left is to climb the actual route.
For Jonathan it was his hardest route to date and his first 9b.
Jonathan Siegrist is sponsored by: Arc'teryx, Climb On, La Sportiva, Maxim ropes, Metolius, The Pro bar and Zeal Optics
Comments
I do like Jonathan Siegrist's no nonsense analytical approach to his climbing.
He gives the impression of a man that, through hard work, is exploiting every ounce of his natural talent rather than just relying on the talent to make up for short comings in training and application.
Yeah I agree. There's a good interview with him about the route on Rock and Ice.
http://rockandice.com/climbing-news/jonathan-siegrist-goes-big-third-ascent-jumbo-love-5-15b/
Interesting that he doesn't think the route suits him: harder for the short and not much finger strength needed which he says is his main strength. But it sounds like he spent a lot of time training specifically for the route this year. So yeah, a lot of hard work and dedication.
I also hadn't realised Alex Megos tried the route recently too.
For doing hard climbs (grade 9s) he's the second most accomplished American in history, only just behind Chris Sharma. Sharma has done 39 whilst Siegrist has now done 36. Admittedly Chris has done far more 9b's but it's still really impressive given the all the other talented climbers in the US.