Some claim sport climbing is lame. Seb Bouin, Chris Sharma, and Randy Leavitt do not care.
This article was originally published on GearJunkie.
There’s the criticism of sport climbing that it’s not adventurous. That it’s trite because it boils down to the basic rudiments of fitness and knowing the moves. That it is the climbing discipline that requires the least creativity, the least acuity, and the least vision.
Don’t tell Seb Bouin that. Watch the French climber author the hardest sport climb in the United States, Suprême Jumbo Love (5.15c/9b+), here.
This thing is a journey, man. Bouin pulled out all the stops to send it in early November. The superlative act finally sealed the climb’s long, episodic history: Sport climbing legends Randy Leavitt and Chris Sharma both helped coax the 230-foot giant from the Mojave stone, taking more than a decade to do it.
This documentary pays homage to that rich history. And aficionados will even notice it calls back to sport climbing’s hard-partying roots in its texture: The music in the uncut send footage of Jumbo Love (5.15b/9b) is ripped right off the DJ stand at a European nightclub.
Finally, Leavitt’s on belay for the conclusory send of the king line. Sport-climbing heads will do well to line up for this one — and give the finger to any nearby “boulderer” or “trad climber” adherents who claim their sport is lesser-than. On Suprême Jumbo Love, bolt clipping rules.
