Siegrist Repeats Golden Direct (5.14d)

4/11/11 - Jonathan Siegrist has repeated Joe Kinder's Golden Direct (5.14d) at the Cathedral near St. George, Utah. Kinder established this 90-foot testpiece in April 2008, with Chris Sharma making a one-day, second-try repeat in September that year.

Siegrist's initial attempts consisted of simply linking the bolts on this "mega steep pitch." He quickly progressed to climbing through and falling near the end, and then one-hanging the route on the last try of the day. Taking less than 10 tries, Siegrist fought his way through the crux for the send "with beta countlessly recited in my head," he says on his blog.

The route begins with 5.11+ climbing, followed by a bouldery and runout 5.13 section. Meeting up with Golden (5.14b) at a bad rest, move into the endurance sequence defined by big moves and more runouts, followed by a difficult undercling clip. "From here, the rock quality improves to near perfection as you enter a stout boulder problem on tufas and bullet grey limestone featuring small pitches and pockets—ending with a desperate slap to a awkward ledge," blogs Siegrist. "Another crappy rest here before a final boulder problem finishing with an awesome and dramatic lunge for the summit of the cave."

Not too exhausted from this enduro route, Siegrist ended his day with a flash of The Cross (5.13c) on the Wailing Wall.

Read more details at his blog.

Date of ascent: April 7, 2011

Source: jstarinorbit.com