BURSTOn March 28, Jules Marchaland repeated Beyond 5.15a (9a+) in Pic Saint-Loup, France. Opened by Seb Bouin in 2019, the route is one of Europe’s finest of the grade, featuring incredible tufa climbing. Bouin originally suggested 5.14d for the climb, but after a hold break made the second crux significantly more difficult, he instead suggested 5.15a. Before Marchaland’s ascent, Beyond was repeated by Tangay Merard, Seb Berthe, and Dylan Chaut.
“What a day here at Pic St loup,” said Marchaland on Instagram after his ascent. “Maybe the best climbing moment of my life. After checking the beta, I knew it could be possible to do it quickly, but I had to do everything perfectly. And everything went better than I expected. After a really good go I was able to clip the chain of this [five-star] route from [Seb Bouin]. The last 10 meters on tufas [around 5.12d] was completely wet. It was one of the biggest mental battle of my life. I was so scared, exhausted, but super excited.”
“Regarding the grade, my feeling would be that it’s clearly soft for a [5.15a]. But is it a very soft [5.15a]? A very hard [5.14d]? Or a [5.14d/15a]? Honestly, I don’t care and I’m really happy of what I’ve done! I enjoyed every second in this route (except the wet end, I admit).”
Beyond is Marchaland’s fifth of the grade. He sent three 5.15a routes in 2023 including First Ley in Margalef, Supercrackinette in Saint Leger, and Punt’X in Gorges du Loup. Late last spring he completed Three Degrees of Separation at Céüse.
Seb Berthe climbing Beyond 5.15a
Feature photo by Lucien Martinez
The post Second-go 5.15a for Jules Marchaland appeared first on Gripped Magazine.