Alex Megos Bags Two of the World's Hardest Climbs in Siurana, Spain

In less than two weeks, German climber Alex Megos ticked not one but two of the hardest single-pitch sport climbs in the world. The routes in question, King Capella and Furia de Jabali, both reside at the limestone cliffs of Siurana, a village within Spanish Catalonia.

Will Bosi, the 22-year-old British powerhouse, claimed the first ascent (FA) for both routes. At the time of his FAs, Bosi graded Furia de Jabali at 9b (5.15b), and King Capella at 9b+ (5.15c). Megos is only the second person after Bosi to redpoint either line.

Though it’s customary for later ascensionists to weigh in on a route’s climbing grade once they’ve sent it cleanly, Megos has yet to weigh in on the grades assigned to either route by Bosi. In an announcement published on 8a.nu, the tow-headed crusher stated that King Capella felt harder than Furia de Jabali.

Megos quiet on Furia de Jabali, King Capella grades

Still: Rotpunkt documentary

It’s possible that Megos will refrain from publicly stating his opinion of Bosi’s grade evaluations entirely.

Traditionally, a route’s first ascensionist assigns that route’s official grade. The second ascensionist will typically agree or disagree with the grading. A “consensus grade” emerges once more than one person has sent the route cleanly and weighed in on its difficulty. The consensus grade is the grade that most, if not all, of its ascensionists, agree upon as accurate.

As the first person to repeat two of the world’s most difficult routes, not offering a second opinion would be out of the ordinary. But Alex Megos isn’t your ordinary climbing celebrity. Despite his long list of elite accomplishments across multiple subdisciplines, the 28-year-old Olympian remains intensely focused and private.

His private nature extends to his professional affiliations, too. In January of 2021, Megos severed ties with several long-term sponsors including Red Bull, Sterling Ropes, and DMM, citing “personal reasons”.

But when it comes to sharing his experiences and psych with the global community, Megos is anything but shy. He quickly took to social media to describe what redpointing Furia de Jabali and King Capella required of him (he sent King in just nine days, and Furia in seven).

True to form, he praised Bosi for establishing two lines at the edge of sport climbing’s absolute limit. And, as the first person to onsight 5.14d, Alex Megos should know.

Watch Megos redpoint King Capella and see a list of his greatest sends below.