BURSTLeo Cea has made history with his recent ascent of No Pain No Gain 5.15a (9a+) in Rodellar, Spain, at the incredibly young age of 13. The route has received a fair number of repeats from top climbers, including those by Piotr Schab, Jorge Díaz-Rullo, Seb Bouin, and Laura Rogora. While five of ten climbers who have logged the route on 8a.nu have called it soft, including Díaz-Rullo and Rogora, only Bouin went so far as to call it 5.14d instead – the rest agree that it is 5.15a as proposed.
The following Instagram quote from Cea about his ascent has been translated from Spanish to English using Google Translate:
I’m so stoked to have sent this incredible route in Rodellar! It’s a route bolted by Dani Fuertes and Alejandro Giménez in 2002, with the first ascent made by Dani himself. I discovered the route during a previous trip in June of this year and was instantly captivated: a very exposed line in the Ventanas sector, about 40 meters long, featuring a massive roof that is physically demanding and full of fun moves.
After giving it a few attempts on that first trip, I went back to the Frankenjura, where I did a lot of outdoor climbing—mainly with [Alex Megos] and [Simon Weißer]—and trained specifically for this huge project. This time, I came back fully committed to sending it; on the sixth day of attempts—very early in the morning to beat the heat—I finally nailed the send!
Adam Ondra previously held the record for the youngest climber to achieve 5.15a with his ascent of La Rambla back in 2008 when he was 15 years, five days old. Roughly fourteen years later, Czech climber Pepa Šindel came incredibly close in November 2022, climbing Chiroptera 5.15a in Súľov, Slovakia, when he was 15 years, 1 month, and 2 days old.
The young prodigy from Chile might only be 13, but he has already been on the scene for several years. He climbed his first 5.14a when he was ten, but it was perhaps his ascent of Tecnoking 5.14d two years ago, when he was only 11, that really drew global attention. Incredibly, he has since added a few more 5.14d’s to his resume, including an FA of Tecnoqueen 5.14d in Las Chilcas, Chile. He has also climbed Puro Dreaming 5.14c/d and Underground 5.14c/d, both of which are located in Arco, Italy.
Cea’s original quote in Spanish:
Estoy muy emocionado de haber podido encadenar esta increíble ruta en Rodellar! Una vía equipada por Dani Fuertes y Alejandro Giménez en 2002, y con primer ascenso del mismo Dani.
La ruta la descubrí durante un viaje anterior, en junio de este año, y me fascinó: una vía muy aérea ubicada en el sector Ventanas, de unos 40 metros de largo, con un techazo principal bastante físico y de pasos muy entretenidos.
Después de darle algunos pegues en el primer viaje, volví a Frankenjura donde seguí escalando mucho en roca principalmente con [Alexander Megos] y [Simon Weißer] y entrenando específicamente para este tremendo proyecto.
Esta vez regresé con todo para intentar encadenarla y, al sexto día de pegues, muy temprano por la mañana —buscando escapar un poco del calor—, ¡salió el pegue encadenador!
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