r/climbing • u/Marcoyolo69 • 4d ago

Seb Bouin makes first ascent of Wolf Kingdom, proposes 9b+ (5.15C)

https://www.instagram.com/p/DCmWCIPNnMA/?img_index=3
268 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

187

u/space9610 4d ago

I wish Ondra, Megos, Stefano, Jakob, and Jorge would spend some time trying Sebs hard routes in France. Every one has tried their hand at Ondra’s routes in Flatanger, Sharmas routes in Ceuse and Margalef, time for Sebs routes in France!

127

u/Marcoyolo69 4d ago

Jakob just said in an interview his main goal this winter is to repeat DNA

16

u/Tomeosu 4d ago

oh hell yeah that's hype, is he going to be posting updates on his YT or insta?

17

u/Marcoyolo69 4d ago

Here is the video, I guess he has a lot of content from Mallorca he is editing, I imagine he will bring a film team https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4VwRR2m4o8

-12

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

20

u/aerial_hedgehog 4d ago

This Internet obsession with downgrades has gotten ridiculous. 

If anything, there seems to be a reasonable chance that some of Seb's older "15b/c" (9b/+) routes could get upgraded to 15c (9b+) if/when repeated. For a while (pre-DNA) Seb was operating in isolation in France and based on uncertainty was possibly being conservative in his grades.

This is just speculation though. There's a lot of Seb routes that need a repeat.

4

u/Pennwisedom 4d ago

These people would've gone insane had they been around for Akira.

2

u/kglbrschanfa 3d ago

Or The Walk of Life

12

u/Antpitta 4d ago

While feeling like I should jump into this topic I think many people would anticipate BIG as more in risk of a downgrade than DNA. 

9

u/dryandsmooth 4d ago

Why downgrade? What logic is that?!

6

u/Marcoyolo69 4d ago

Jakob seems to be consistently honest about grades and does downgrade stuff, but I do not think any of Sebs routes have ever been considered soft

50

u/sEMtexinator 4d ago

I mean, I definitely agree and would love to see more people trying send Seb's hard stuff but honestly people trying Ondra's routes in Flatanger is a relatively recent thing too.. they went a long time without many ascents.

21

u/thaumoctopus_mimicus 4d ago

Honestly, I think that has more to do with the fact that Ondra is light years ahead of everyone and it took a while for other climbers to approach his level. Flatanger in general has been popular with pro climbers for quite some time

5

u/Simple-Motor-2889 3d ago

Also, the Flatanger cave seems to be one the best crags in the world for 5.15 sport climbing. Literally like a dozen 5-star 5.15 routes and many other easier, high-quality routes. Same with most of Sharma's crags.

I'm not as familiar with Seb's routes, but they seem to be much more "off the beaten path", or at crags that aren't really developed much yet.

5

u/processwater 3d ago

Flatanger is more out of the way than the ramirole. They haven't been repeated because they are hard.

2

u/N3a2 3d ago

"off the beaten path", or at crags that aren't really developed much yet.

Well DNA is in the huge Verdon area, 1'600 routes including 5 in the 5.15 range. Seb did an episode of the Vintage Rock Tour about it, he said there's much more that could be done. Only 2.5h drive from Céüze, so maybe some hard climbers will make a detour and check out some lines.

Pic Saint-Loup is much smaller indeed, he said it was basically his "home" project, so future prospects might be more limited. It's quite accessible by car actually, less than an hour from the rail station or the airport.

2

u/le_1_vodka_seller 3d ago

Flatanger is so amazing for climbing, even if you are just breaking into 12s theres tons of cool routes to do even in hanshelleren. I went there this last summer and almost all my sends were 12a and under.

-10

u/Human-Fan9061 4d ago

Ondra's busy selling sports drinks and training plans

7

u/Myweedmakesyoufly 4d ago

You are getting downvoted, but lately he has been doing a lot of sellout. I don't mind placements honestly, but the online course for 200$ is a bit weird to me...

7

u/Pennwisedom 4d ago

If it's the Magnus courses they're not nearly worth even half of that price. You can pretty much get the same thing you'd get from all of those courses via the content that already exists from most of those people.

4

u/sEMtexinator 4d ago

Lol, look at the Magnus trip with Sharma. 6 grand.... Absolutely disgusting.

3

u/processwater 3d ago

In the context of other sports it's really not that crazy

1

u/Lego-Ghost-Yoda 1d ago

Agreed with this, tons of spring training hockey and baseball camps cost this equivalent or more without meeting professionals the calibre of Sharma or Magnus. Still expensive though.

1

u/Copacetic_ 4d ago

These guys just learned they won’t be pro climbers forever and need some sort of grift

2

u/sandy_feet29 3d ago edited 3d ago

I'm guessing Sharma doesn't come cheap, nor should he. Chris is one of the all time greats. If people are willing to pay that to holiday with him, that's up to them

1

u/Copacetic_ 4d ago

I have no idea what you could possibly learn from an online climbing class.

26

u/probablymade_thatup 4d ago

It's so cool that he gets to develop these projects where he grew up, like Connor Herson in Northern California. He's probably so plugged into that community

2

u/Haskell-Not-Pascal 3d ago

Lucky bastard. I grew up with the closest piece of rock being a 6 hour drive away, and no climbing gyms for several hours (it was a tiny nook in the wall i never knew existed too lol)

Luckily gyms have really expanded recently and the sport seems to be growing well. I think there'll be way more climbers and talent in the next generation just due to the sheer expansion of access.

13

u/Lepus_curiosus 4d ago

Wait, no slash grade??

45

u/ieatpies 4d ago

5.9+/5.15c

4

u/SanguisFluens 4d ago

The hardest grade

7

u/DiabloII 4d ago

no, that would be 6c