I’m kind of use to these stories from Climbing.com about Chris Sharma putting up another nearly impossible route by now. After all, the guy has now climbed four 5.15 routes in a year’s time, completing his most recent climb last Friday when he finished off the first ascent on a 5.15a in Spain, which he promptly named Demencia Senil. Sharma just keeps pushing the boundaries of the sport and one of the most amazing athletes in the world, although hardly anyone outside of the climbing community knows his name.
What I’m not use to is reading about a 13-year old kid who is polishing off tough routes of his own. In this case it’s a young man by the name of Geoffray de Flaugergues of France, who completed the El Templo del Café, a route with a 5.14d rating. Last year, at the age of 12, Geoffray was taking on, and conquering, 5.14c routes, successfully completing three of them.
That same story mentions another 13-year old, David Firnenburg from Germany, who climbed in Margalef, Spain in 2008, completing two 5.14a routes in the process.
It seems that there is a very talented crop of young climbers on the rise, and they’re already on the scene to make us all feel bad. That is some seriously impressive climbing out of these two young men, and we could be witnessing the Chris Sharma’s of the future. When I was there age, I had a tough enough time just climbing a ladder.
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