The Hardest Sport Climbs in the World (2022 Update)

Gone are the days when climbing a 5.15 was truly rare. By our count, there have now been more than 500 ascents of 5.15 climbs.

It’s been a while since our last update, and sport climbing has refused to slow down in spite of a global pandemic. In 2021, there were 73 ascents of 5.15 routes. That’s the most of any year in history, although 2022 is on track to set a new record.

Many of those ascents were made by young guns rising through the ranks, including Jorge Diaz Rullo and Jonatan Flor. Laura Rogora and Julia Chanourdie joined Anak Verhoeven, Angela Eiter, and Margo Hayes on the list of women to climb 5.15.

But some things are eternal, and one of them seems to be Adam Ondra. Ondra retains his title as the best sport climber in history — he has three times as many 5.15 ascents as the next contestant (the formidable Alex Megos). Ondra’s landmark 5.15d, Silence, remains unrepeated.

In total, 115 climbers have now climbed a 5.15 route, and 38 have climbed a 5.15b. Jakob Schubert and Sean Bailey became the fifth and sixth climbers to reach 5.15c, joining Ondra, Megos, Ghisolfi, and Sharma. The latest contribution comes from Seb Bouin, who proposed a new 5.15d (9c) with his ascent of DNA.

To help keep track of it all, this article includes a running list of the hardest climbing routes in existence. To keep things simple, I cut the grade off at 5.15a (9a+) and above.

I spent many, many hours researching and tallying these ascents. However, I’m still human. If you notice any missing ascents or data entry errors, let us know in the comments and we’ll take a look at it during our next update.

The World’s Hardest Sport Climbs

List Criteria

• Climbs had to be graded 5.15a (9a+) or higher. Adding 5.14d (9a) climbs would have made this list horrifically long. If routes were given the slash grade of 5.14d/5.15a (9a/9a+), I did not include them.
• For climbs where there was disagreement about the grade (of which there were surprisingly few), I averaged the grade suggestions. Surprisingly, there few cases of real controversy over grade. Where climbs have been repeated, climbers by and large tend to agree on the grade. After averaging grade suggestions, some routes included in previous updates (like Akira and Bone Tomahawk) dropped below our 5.15a threshold and were therefore omitted.
• I included all claimed ascents. Some of these (see notes below) have since been called into question. These are rare cases, and generally climbers tend to be an honest bunch about FAs (let’s not talk about Cerro Torre). It’s much more likely that some of the proposed grades will shift. Most of these routes haven’t been repeated, and downgrading/upgrading is still relatively common at the upper edge of the sport. Where there is only one ascent, I included the climb at the grade proposed by the first ascensionist.

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Notes on Specific Climbs, Climbers, & Ascents

• Fred Rouhling has drawn more than his fair share of controversy. A scapegoat for chipping tactics in the 90s, he drew an especially large barrage of flak when he proposed an unheard-of grade 9b for Akira. For a long while, Akira stood as the world’s first proposed 5.15b (9b). In 2020, Seb Bouin and Lucien Martinez became the first climbers to repeat it. Although they confirmed the grades of other Rouhling routes, both suggested 5.14d (9a) for Akira (Bouin believes the grade would drop further with a kneepad). Rouhling claims that broken holds are responsible. After the downgrades, Akira drops off of our list.
• Chilam Balam is another controversial first ascent. At first, Bernabé Fernández’s route drew criticism for many of the same reasons as Rouhling’s: Fernández did not have a track record of 5.15 ascents, and he was known for questionable practices on other climbs (most notably Orujo). Then Dani Andrada went to try the climb and reportedly saw very little evidence of rubber or travel, especially on the upper sections. It’s hard to say how much of this is verifiable or useful, and Fernández has been fairly open about his feelings on the climb and the grade. Chilam Balam has since settled at 5.15a/5.15b (9a+/9b), though some still doubt that Fernández ever climbed it. With Akira and Chilam Balam downgraded, the mantle of “World’s First 5.15b” falls to Sharma’s Jumbo Love.
• Alex Huber is one of the most outspoken critics of both of the above ascensionists, which may or may not be related to the fact that he also owns a groundbreaking first ascent. Huber’s Open Air, originally proposed at 5.14d, was upgraded by none other than Ondra himself. Huber later revised his grade upward. Although it may lose its title as the only 5.15 climb of the 1990s (see below), Huber’s ascent was a groundbreaking moment for climbing and came a full five years before Sharma’s famous ascent of Biographie.
• Qui and Mutation, two 1990s routes originally graded 5.14+, may provide Open Air with some competition. Adam Ondra became the first climber to repeat Qui since Stefan Fürst put it up in 1996, and he suggested an upgrade to 5.15a (9a+). Similarly, Scottish up-and-comer Will Bosi repeated Steve McClure’s Mutation (FA 1998) and suggested a grade of at least 5.15a. These climbs remain absent from our list because of grade averaging, but if other climbers confirm the upgrades, they may prove that Huber wasn’t the only 5.15 climber in the 1990s.
• Pirmin Bertle rounds out our discussion of grading controversy. Yet another ascensionist to propose a controversial 5.15b on Meiose, Bertle offered as justification only the fact that it took him longer to project the climb than a 5.15a would have. In February 2018, Ondra sent the route and did indeed suggest a downgrade to 5.15a. Bertle was not pleased. Though Ondra is probably the climber best equipped to judge grades at this level, the climb sits at 5.15a/b in our table due to averaging. Not one to be discouraged, Bertle went right ahead and suggested 5.15b for La Barriere, a linkup in Jansegg.
• As deep water solos, Alasha and Es Pontas are in many ways a category of their own. Consequently, Chris Sharma has been reluctant to grade either one. Jernej Kruder, the first climber to repeat Es Pontas, agreed with Sharma that “this thing is so specific” and did not assign a grade. Jan Hojer followed suit. In 2021, Jakob Schubert became the first climber to repeat Alasha. His grade suggestion of 5.14d (9a) dropped it from our list, but he agreed that deep water soloing is an art all its own: “If you just want to climb difficult, you go somewhere else.”
• Tinipi, Daniel Woods’ epic-looking climb on Mont Kinabalu, is unique on this list as the only climb no longer in existence. Just weeks after Sachi Amma claimed the second ascent, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit Malaysia and toppled the Donkey’s Ears formation. Sadly, this means that no one will ever attempt the route again.

The World’s Current Hardest Sport Climb

Based solely on grade, the world’s hardest sport climbs are currently Silence and DNA, both rated 5.15d (9c).

This title was previously shared by Change, La Dura Dura, and Vasil Vasil — all of which are graded 5.15c (9b+). With his 2017 ascent of Silence, Ondra opened a new grade. Silence has yet to be repeated, but Ondra isn’t generally one to give soft grades.

As I was compiling data for this update, Seb Bouin announced that he had sent his Verdon Gorge project, which he dubbed DNA. Bouin estimated that he spent close to 200 days working the route and proposed a grade of 5.15d (9c).

He’s not the first to join Ondra in suggesting the grade. In 2020, Alex Megos made the first ascent of Bibliographie and also proposed 5.15d (9c). Stefano Ghisolfi downgraded the route to 5.15c (9b+) after he repeated it in 2021, and Megos agreed. Bibliographie is now the world’s fifth 5.15c.

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The Best Sport Climber in the World

The numbers here don’t lie — Adam Ondra is far and away the best sport climber in the world. He has logged triple the 5.15 ascents and FAs of the next most prolific hardmen in each category (Alex Megos and Chris Sharma). He is the lone ascensionist of what may be the world’s hardest climb, and many of his ascents took shockingly little time. In February 2018, Ondra made history by claiming the world’s first 5.15a flash on Saint Léger’s Super Crackinette.

There is one major factor to commend Sharma, and it’s how far he was ahead of his time. A full 80% of Sharma’s 5.15 climbs were first ascents. He is rightfully renowned for putting up some of the most groundbreaking and excellent climbs of our generation — climbs like Biographie, Pachamama, and Jumbo Love. That’s not to mention his mastery of that tricky medium, deep water soloing: Es Pontas and Alasha remain in a class of their own.

Still, it’s possible that one day we’ll be speaking about Change the way we now talk about Biographie. Adam Ondra is currently so far ahead of the curve that no one can confirm how classic his new climbs are.

Anak Verhoeven made history as the first woman to make a 5.15 FA with Sweet Neuf, and Angy Eiter made it again when she became the first woman to send a 5.15b (Laura Rogora and Julia Chanourdie have since repeated the feat). Limits are being pushed all over the place, and it’s exciting to imagine what’s yet to come.

Grade-Chasing

It took a while for climbers to really break into the 5.15s. There were a couple flares in the late 90s and early 2000s (including some truly revolutionary ascents), but 5.15 ascents didn’t become a regular occurrence until the late aughts.

After Huber climbed Open Air in 1996, it took more than a decade for Chris Sharma to make the first ascent of Jumbo Love in 2008. Four years later, Ondra bagged the first 5.15c on Change, and in 2017 he proposed the world’s first 5.15d.

In the last update, I noted the recent pattern of progression every four or five years and wrote: “if things continue as they have, we can expect to wait until the early 2020s before seeing a 5.16a (9c+).”

We’re now about due for that 5.16a, but I’m not sure it’s coming. There’s another, simpler explanation for the march of progress through the 2010s: Adam Ondra was ahead of his time. Barring another exceptional talent, we may be back to waiting a decade or more for new frontiers to be unlocked.

A few other conclusions stand out from the data. One is that grades tend to get pushed by a very select few. It takes a while for other ascensionists to catch up. It took about a decade after Open Air for 5.15a ascents to become common, and frequent 5.15b ascents didn’t start popping up until the 2010s. To date, we’ve still seen only eleven ascents of a 5.15c.

On the other hand, at a level just below the tip-top, the sport seems to be accelerating. The total number of 5.15 climbers grew by about 140% in the time since our last update. Many of those climbers are young and still improving.

Climbing itself is growing, so it makes sense for the number of top ascensionists to grow as well. Training methods, accessibility, and equipment are all improving. In the future it seems likely that we’ll see more high-level ascents from an increasingly diverse group of climbers.

All the same, the fact that 5.15c/d ascents have remained so elusive is a testament to how difficult it is to push through the plateaus. Not only does it take exceptional athletes with exceptional drive, but it takes projects at just the right level and in just the right style.

This is part of what makes iconic ascents — from Es Pontas to Silence — seem so revolutionary. Almost all top climbers want to be pushing the boundaries, but grade-wise, only a handful ever do. Technology and growth will surely change the sport, but it seems likely that limits will still be broken inch by laborious inch, over long periods of time, by an extremely elite few.

My final note is that it’s hard to predict when ascents and grades will happen, and even harder to predict which grades will stick. It might take another decade for someone to repeat Silence or confirm another 5.15d, or it might happen in the next year. The rise of 5.15 ascents means that this is an exciting time for climbing, and personally I’m excited to see what the next generation has in store.

Where in the World Are the Hardest Sport Climbs?

Mostly in Europe, it turns out. Nearly 90% of the world’s 5.15 climbs are in Europe.

Most of the remaining climbs are in the USA and Canada. Only a handful are not located in Europe and North America.

That’s both a testament to the insular nature of climbing and a bright look at the future. Imagine all the difficult routes that could be put up around the world — as the sport continues to expand, it finds most of the globe unexplored.