The 15 Greatest Ascents of 2023

Many newsworthy things happened in 2023. Climbing hit reality TV (again) with Chris Sharma and Jason Momoa’s The Climb. A stunning new crack appeared in Yosemite overnight and was promptly climbed at 5.10. Canada briefly had a V16. Tristan Chen returned to form after a seven-month bout with cancer and did multiple V14s, bouldered the Fly (5.14d), and sent Desperanza (V15). Jared Leto made the first partial toprope ascent of the Empire State Building. Felipe Camargo gave Brazil its first 5.15. Chris Sharma did his second 5.15c, at age 41, after not climbing anything he considered truly hard in eight years. Several Iranian climbers were arrested for protesting their government. Multiple Ukrainian climbers were killed defending their country against Russia. A climber got her knee stuck in a crack and was saved by dish soap. Another climber got his knee stuck and was instead freed with Ketamine.

But this article isn’t about those stories. Instead, it’s purely about this year’s most cutting edge and historic ascents. To keep it simple, my colleagues and I identified three exceptional climbs in five categories: alpine climbing, bouldering, sport climbing, trad climbing, and “other types of climbing” (a category that in this case includes an ice climb, a big wall speed record, and a deep water solo).

Making this list was not easy—so many cool things happened!—which is why I couldn’t help but list some honorable mentions. I also decided not to rank climbs within each category; this is about celebrating the big moments in our sport—not anointing any single ascent over the others.

Read on for the greatest climbing accomplishments of 2023.

Alpine Climbing

April: Cornell, Marvell, and Rousseau establish Aim for the Bushes on Mt. Dickey

During a three day effort from March 31 to April 2, American alpinists Alan Rousseau, Matt Cornell, and Jackson Marvell—the same team who would go on in October to climb the North Face of Jannu (see below)—established Aim for the Bushes (VI M6 X AI 6; 5,250ft) on the East Face of Mt. Dickey (9,545ft) in Alaska’s Ruth Gorge. Their line, which was first tried by Jack Tackle in 2007, involved highly varied and inconsistent ice and snow climbing. “There were a handful of very dangerous tunneling pitches,” said Rousseau, “but also a high amount of quality ice climbing, on the upper 1,000 feet especially.” But the rock sections, while clean, were hard to protect. The route’s combination of dangerous and difficult climbing, and the team’s impeccable style, make it one of the year’s most impressive. Read the full story here.

October: Cornell, Marvell, and Rousseau establish Round Trip Ticket on Jannu

The year’s most jaw-dropping new route was established—surprise, surprise—in the Himalaya, by a familiar set of faces: Matt Cornell, Jackson Marvell, and Alan Rousseau. Their route, Round Trip Ticket (M7 AI5+ A0), tackles the imposing and previously unclimbed 9,000-foot North Face of Jannu (7,710m/25,295ft), a feature that has long been a source of fearful fascination for the world’s alpine community. Moving light and fast, in alpine style, up an intense and sustained high-altitude headwall, Cornell, Marvell, and Rousseau spent seven days on the mountain (five ascending, two descending), zipping themselves into a single custom-made sleeping bag, sheltering in their increasingly patched little tent, and unable to stomach food thanks to the elevation. Still, the route’s name comes from the team’s insistence on keeping things as safe as possible. “We came here collectively three times,” Rousseau told Climbing, “and we bought three round-trip flights. We were intent on coming back every time.” Read the full story here.

October: Tim Miller and Paul Ramsden climb the North Face of Surma-Sarovar

One definition of adventurous: Embracing the number of unknowns that UK climbers Tim Miller and Paul Ramsden experienced on—and en route to—Surma-Sarovar, a previously unclimbed 6,605-meter peak in one of Nepal’s most remote and rarely-visited valleys. Before beginning their trip, Ramsden and Miller had very little information about the valley and didn’t even know which of the peaks there they’d ultimately attempt. Eventually they settled on a “spiraling weakness” on Surma-Sarovar’s North Face, which they climbed. They didn’t assign technical grades to specific sections of their route, preferring to use the more general grade of ED, or “Extremely Difficult,” but the climb’s relative lack of cutting edge difficulty (they encountered difficulties up to WI 3 and M5) was more than offset by the climb’s remoteness, the sketchy snow conditions, and the fact that their descent involved launching into the unknown on the opposite side of the mountain—the ultimate alpine commitment—which turned out to be the hardest and most hazardous part of their mountain experience. Read the full story here.

Bouldering

April: Will Bosi claims the coveted second ascent of Burden of Dreams (V17)

After repelling numerous suitors since Hukkataival’s FA in October 2016—including Daniel Woods, Shawn Raboutou, Aidan Roberts, Giuliano Cameroni, and Toru Nakajima, all of whom have climbed multiple boulders graded V16 or harder—Burden of Dreams emerged as one of the more coveted second ascents in the history of bouldering. Will Bosi, who’d climbed Alphane (V17) in just ten session in 2022, spent 24 days working on Burden of Dreams; 10 of these sessions were on a 3D-scanned replica of the boulder at Lattice Headquarters in Sheffield, UK; 14 sessions were on the problem itself—several of which he livestreamed. It was by far the longest he’s spent on a problem. Read the full story here. Read about what I learned watching Bosi’s livestream here. Watch the video here.

May: Vadim Timonov proposes V17 for Backflip Sit 

Last year, Vladimir Timonov had to put aside his main project, Nalle Hukkataival’s Burden of Dreams, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Finland to close its border to Russian nationals. His backup was to take trips to Djan-Tugan, in the Caucasus Mountains, where this past May he established his hardest boulder problem to date, Blackflip Sit. He wrote afterwards that he was anxious about proposing the full V17 grade. “I know your skepticism and understand it,” he said. But V17 was his honest assessment—and he says he’s open to hearing other people’s thoughts. “Someday,” he says in a video about the climb, “we will have world peace, and climbers from other parts of the world will [be able] to come here and try.” Read the story and watch the video here.

July: Katie Lamb sends Box Therapy 

When Katie Lamb made the fourth ascent of Box Therapy she became the first woman to climb a boulder graded V16. She delayed reporting the send, however, in part because she wasn’t sure how to communicate around the grade. The problem felt like her hardest, she told me in an interview, far harder than any of her V14s, but she’d never done a V15, and had never tried another V16, so she didn’t feel able to contextualize the climb. Several months later, in October, Shawn and Brooke Raboutou made the fifth and sixth ascents of the problem and called it V15, confirming some of Lamb’s anxieties. But even if we’re still waiting for a first female V16, Lamb’s FFA of Box Therapy (and Raboutou’s repeat) were important moments in the history of women’s bouldering: previously only four women—only one of whom was American—had climbed the V15 grade. Post-send interview with Katie Lamb here.

Honorable mention:

• Charles Albert:L’Ombre du Voyageur. In November, when Charles Albert—widely known as Barefoot Charles—topped out his four-year project, L’Ombre du Voyageur, and graded it V17, it was the second time he’d proposed such a grade. The first, No Kpote Only, has been downgraded to V15 thanks to better beta and rock shoes. Still, Albert is more confident in his proposal about L’Ombre du Voyageur, which is a 50-feet long roof—and he’s also psyched to just see others on the climb. Here’s why.

Sport Climbing

January: Michaela Kiersch does La Rambla

On January 29, Michaela Kiersch ignored her bad skin and an impending storm and sent the Siurana testpiece La Rambla, one of the world’s most repeated (and most classic) 5.15a’s. In the process, she became just the second American woman (after Margo Hayes who sent La Rambla in 2017) to climb the grade and the first woman to climb both 5.15 and V14. (Ashima Shiraishi climbed Open Your Mind Direct, which is 5.14d/5.15a, in 2015, and climbed Horizon, which is V15, in 2016). Full story here.

February: Jorge Díaz-Rullo FA’s Mejorando la Samfaina—5.15c

Jorge Díaz-Rullo had an intensely productive winter season in Margalef this year, but he made history when—taking a break from his main project, the still-unclimbed Cafe Colombia, into which he’s sunk more than 100 days—he did the first ascent of Mejorando la Samfaina and became the first Spaniard to climb the 5.15c grade. He doubled down on this by making the fifth ascent of Bibliographie (5.15c) this summer and is apparently making quick progress on Chris Sharma’s Siurana testpiece Sleeping Lion. Full story here.

September: Jakob Schubert establishes world’s third 5.15d—sending on livestream

2023 was the year that livestreaming truly hit the climbing world, with Will Bosi streaming multiple sessions on Burden of Dreams (though not his send) and Jakob Schubert making the first ascent of B.I.G. (formerly known as Project Big) in front of a live online audience. It was a pretty fascinating watch—particularly since he broke a hold and nearly fell on route’s the long 5.13b outro section. The route is the third proposed 5.15d—after Silence by Adam Ondra and DNA by Seb Bouin. None have yet been repeated. Full story here. Livestream here.

Honorable mentions:

• Chris Sharma: Sleeping Lion. After more than a year of effort—and while juggling life as a family man and business owner—Chris Sharma, 41, clipped the chains on Sleeping Lion (5.15c), in Siurana, Spain. It had been almost exactly 10 years since he did his other 5.15c—the second ascent of La Dura Dura in March 2013. Full story here.
• Stefano Ghisolfi: Excalibur On February 5, Stefano Ghisolfi made the first ascent of Excalibur after a long and public projecting process, which also involved efforts from Adam Ondra, Jakob Schubert, Will Bosi, and Laura Rogora. In addition to being short and heinous-looking, Excalibur is almost certainly the hardest route in Italy. It’s still awaiting a second ascent, though Will Bosi seems close. Full story here.
• Jon Cardwell: Wind-up Bird. Jon Cardwell, 34, hit a new stride in November after making the first ascent of Wind-up Bird at the Fortress of Solitude. The route, which Caldwell tried for multiple seasons and which he thinks is 5.15b, is one of the very hardest routes in the United States, and Cardwell is already at work on an even-harder extension. Full story here.

Trad Climbing

February: James Pearson climbs Bon Voyage—the world’s first E12

James Pearson has a fraught history with the E12 grade: he first proposed it for The Walk of Life back in 2008—only to see it receive the rare triple-downgrade at the hands of Dave MacLeod. After that, Pearson was ostracized into exile by the UK’s crusty trad climbing community, and he’s spent much of the last fifteen years living in mainland Europe while continuing, of course, to climb some of the world’s hardest trad climbs. When he did the FA of Bon Voyage last February, he knew it was the hardest gear route he’d ever done… but he was hesitant to propose the world’s first E12. So he invited others to climb on it—including Steve McClure, who, like Pearson, has done multiple E11s, and who said Bon Voyage hit a new level: “If this route is not E12 I’ll be amazed,” he wrote, “just for the pure difficulty, never mind the scary big fall potential.” But the fall potential is not just scary: it’s far more dangerous than he’d initially thought. Reclimbing a section of the route after his send for an upcoming film, Pearson fumbled one of the last crux moves and made an alarming discovery: it’s possible to hit a “guillotine-like ledge” that lies below that section of the route. He barely missed that time, and if he’d fallen a move or two higher or had any more slack out, he’d likely have hit it. All of which is why, just last week, he finally announced the E12 grade. Original news here. Reasons for grading the route E12: here.

November: Pete Whittaker Proposes World’s first 5.14d crack 

Pete Whittaker, of Wideboyz fame, has been establishing hard crack climbs—and making them popular—for more than a decade now; but he says that Crown Royale—a 330-foot monster at the Profilveggen (Profile) Wall in Jøssingfjord, Norway, that took him some 30 sessions over four years—is his hardest. Even though he’s not 100 percent sure about the 5.14d grade (he says it feels a bit harder than its neighbor, Nico Favresse’s Recovery Drink, which is considered 5.14c and which Whittaker climbed in 2019), Crown Royale is undoubtedly one of the hardest crack climbs in the world. Read all about it here.

November: Lor Sabourin second ascent of Stranger than Fiction: 

First climbed at 5.14- by Mason Earle in 2016, Stranger than Fiction is—we now know—one of America’s very hardest crack climbs. After working the line for four seasons, and dreaming about it for longer, Lor Sabourin (they/them) made the long-awaited second ascent in November, removing their shoe (as Earle did) partway through the climb to better lock their toes into the crack. The route’s third ascensionist, Pete Whittaker, suggests “tough 5.14b” for the grade—harder than Cobra Crack (a 5.14b in Squamish), easier than Recovery Drink (a 5.14c in Norway). More important than the grade for Lor, however, is that during the projecting process they got to know Earle, who came down with a debilitating chronic illness in 2018: “Mason’s total hero status,” they said. Full story here.

Honorable mentions:

• Didier Berthod: Crack of Destiny. After dropping off the climbing map (and moving to a monastery) more than a decade ago, Didier Berthod returned to the limelight—and to Squamish—to make the first ascent of Crack of Destiny (5.14b) high on the Chief… and to reconnect with the family he’d left behind. Full story.
• Mary Eden & Mari Augusta Salveen: Black Mamba. Mary Eden and Mari Augusta Salvesen got the third and fourth ascents of Black Mamba—a heinously varied 150-foot-long 5.14a/b roof crack in Utah’s White Rim.

Other kinds of climbing!

February: Quentin Roberts free solos the first ascent of a WI 6+ 

When Quentin Roberts—the same Quentin Roberts who won a 2023 Piolets d’Or for his 2022 ascent with Alik Berg of Reino Hongo (M7 AI 5+ 90°; 3,600ft) on Jirishanca, Peru—established Lion Queen, on a overhanging dagger of thin rattly ice on the shore of Lake Superior, and graded it WI 6+, Climbing’s pundits were pretty stunned for two reasons. Reason #1: Quentin Roberts, like other leading Canadian ice crushers, has publicly declared that he does not think pure WI 7 ice climbs can exist in nature—which means that when he graded something WI 6+ he was, in a effect, saying that he’d just done the hardest pure ice climb he could conceive of. Reason #2: Roberts didn’t just FA the route, he sussed it once on toprope and then free soloed it. Maybe he was afraid that the dagger might collapse and kill his belayer. Or maybe he just thought skipping that tedious rope and screws would make it more fun. More here.

October: Nick Ehman blew away Alex Honnold’s speed solo record on the Nose

In 2010, Alex Honnold soloed (not free-soloed) El Cap and Half Dome in 11 hours and 10 minutes. That record that still stands. But in the process, he also established a solo record on the Nose, climbing it—in a mixture of free and french free techniques—in 5 hours and 49 minutes. That held for 13 years, until on Tuesday, October 10, Nick Ehman, who for three years has worked on Yosemite’s fabled Search and Rescue Team, blasted up the thing in just 4 hours and 39 minutes. Read about Ehman’s ascent here.

November: Chris Sharma does his hardest deepwater solo to date

In addition to climbing Sleeping Lion, his first 5.15c since La Dura Dura, which he sent in March 2013, Chris Sharma stepped it up his already venerable deep water soloing game by making the first ascent of Black Pearl, which he thinks could be 5.15a—a candidate for the hardest deepwater solo ever done. After an intro 5.13a/b, the route involves a 15-move crux sequence, which Sharma says feels like a 5.14b/c into a V9. Then it tacks on a 5.13b/c outro section. “It’s basically right up there with Es Pontas and Alasha. It’s hard to compare,” he told Climbing. “But it could possibly even be a bit harder than both of those.” Full story here.