UKC

Stoking the Fire, 9b, for Jonathan Siegrist

© Jordi Rulló @jordirullo

Jonathan Siegrist has made a rare repeat of Chris Sharma's Stoking the Fire (9b), at Santa Linya, Catalunya.

The route, first climbed by Sharma in 2013, has only seen five successful attempts since, with repeats from Adam Ondra, Jakob Schubert, Sachi Amma, Stefano Ghisolfi, and now Jonathan Siegrist.

The route consists of a ten metre 7c+ into a no hands rest, followed by thirty metres of powerful climbing on pinches and underclings, with no opportunity to rest.

Sharma spent multiple years on the route before climbing it, and described the route as 'solid 9b. So many hard complex sequences with no rests'. Sachi Amma tried the route over multiple trips, putting in three months of route specific training prior to eventually climbing it.

Whilst projecting the route in 2016, Adam Ondra said that 'every single move is so physical and it drains your body and the last hard moves are at the very end of this section where you can't chalk up where you can't stop ... it's probably the best 9b in Catalunya'.

Despite having climbed 9b on five occasions previously, Stoking the Fire seemed to push Siegrist harder than he had ever been pushed before. Sharing news of his ascent on instagram, Siegrist said:

'These past weeks I've pushed so far beyond what I thought was my mental limit. Genuinely, this experience has been into uncharted territory for me. I deeply wanted to stop trying SO many times, but some driving force inside of me would call for one more try… over and over again'.

'This drive took me to some dark places, and also some truly inspiring ones. Ultimately it forced my surrender to an extent that I have not felt before. I am not the strongest climber - not by a long shot - but I pride myself on always showing up, and trying my absolute hardest… to the death. The experience of trying 'Stoking the Fire' tested this intrinsic piece of me on a new level'.

'In some kind of story tale, nail-biter ending that even I could not have imagined, I finally climbed the route last night. Last day, last try'.

With six 9b routes to his name, Siegrist is the most accomplished climber at the grade outside of those who have climbed 9b+ or harder.


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18 Apr, 2023

Jonathans hardest ticks are impressive, no doubt. But even more so, for me, is the huge contribution that he has made to his home area in Las Vegas and the mountain west in general. And by "contribution" I don't mean mooching other peoples projects. The amount of development this guy has done is incredible...it's amazing he can even still get up 9b's after all the work he has put into setting up routes.

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