BURSTLeo Cea, the talented 13-year-old climber from Chile, just climbed No Pain No Gain, a 5.15a found at Rodellar, Spain. In doing so, Cea has become the youngest person ever to complete a 5.15, beating out Adam Ondra by nearly two years. Ondra previously held the record for the youngest climber to achieve 5.15 with his ascent of La Rambla 5.15a back in 2008 when he was 15 years old.
Cea first discovered No Pain No Gain during a trip in June and immediately connected with the route. At around 40 metres long, it features a massive roof covering more than half of the climb. While there’s a major crux in the middle of the roof, Cea said the real challenge for him came afterward, continuing through the route to the exit while already completely pumped.
He also had to develop his own beta. Some of the kneebars he had seen other climbers use simply didn’t work for him, so he found alternative solutions involving high heel hooks. “I really liked that process of discovering my own way of climbing the route,” Cea said.
On the morning of Sept. 2, at around 8 a.m. and with temperatures around 20 degrees, Cea completed the route. He also celebrated a flash of Ixeia 5.14a and, perhaps just as importantly, the atmosphere surrounding the trip. He spent the days climbing alongside enthusiastic local climbers, while his father and brothers were working on their own projects. “Between friends and family we created a super cool atmosphere for climbing,” Cea said.
Cea, who said he now wants to climb 5.14d in Frankenjura, first climbed 5.14a when he was 10, and sent 5.14d with Tecnoking 5.14d at 11. He has since made the first ascent of Tecnoqueen 5.14d in Las Chilcas, Chile, and repeated Puro Dreaming 5.14c/d and Underground 5.14c/d, both in Arco, Italy.
No Pain No Gain
No Pain No Gain, which was established in 2017 by Daniel Fuertes, was also climbed by Laura Rogora this year, who agreed with the grade of 5.15a, as did Jorge Diaz-Rullo after his send in 2019. Watch the first ascent here:
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