Jonathan Siegrist Puts Up New 5.15a and 5.14d in Nevada
Siegrist nails down the first ascents of two of the hardest routes in Clear Light Cave
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Clear Light Cave is an enormous limestone cavity in Mount Potosi, a climbing area located an hour outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. The cave is home to more than forty sport climbs, the vast majority of which are in the 5.12+ to 5.14 range. It is infamous for long, overhung lines with gymnastic moves. In February, Johnathan Siegrist made the first ascents of two of the hardest routes in the cave.
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At the beginning of the month he completed the project Smoke Wagon, a 5.14d equipped by Andy Raether. He wrote on Instagram: “Finally stuck this enormous move from the ground on the Smoke Wagon Project (9a) yesterday. Very grateful to [Andy Raether] for this wicked resistant rig that kept me coming back day after day.”
Last March, Siegrist made the first ascent of All You Can Eat, the first 5.15a in Clear Light Cave. This season, after completing Smoke Wagon, Siegrist turned his attention to One Hundred Proof. “I’ve been inching my way higher and higher on this monstrous route over the last two weeks,” he wrote. “Yesterday [February 20] I finally hung on for the ride and took this bastard to the chains! One Hundred Proof (5.15a) is one of the hardest routes I’ve climbed in quite a while. Just as I started to really stress the time pressure, it feels SO relieving to wrap this up.”
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One Hundred Proof is Siegrist’s tenth 5.15a, and according to a list of hard sport routes maintained by 99boulders.com, likely the eighth 5.15 line in the United States. Siegrist has climbed half of them, including the only confirmed 5.15b, Chris Sharma’s Jumbo Love at Clark Mountain, California
