Laura Rogora, 18, Establishes new 5.14d in Italy
It's the young Italian's second 5.14d this year!
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The 18-year-old Italian climber Laura Rogora has climbed a new 9a (5.14d) route at Cueva di Collepardo, a crag near Rome, Italy. It is not her first of the grade—far from it: Rogora has climbed at least six routes in the 9a range (including 8c+/9a slash grades), her first coming way back in March 2016 when she was just 14.
[Also Read Jorge Diaz-Rullo Climbs a 5.15b and Three 5.14d’s in Just Three Days]
Rogora named the new line Rèveille-toi, French for “Wake up.” It is the direct finish of a previously established 8c (5.14b) called Il traverso dei sogni—which translates to “The Traverse of Dreams.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByOA7gCIQSu/
Speaking to Planetmountain.com, Rogora said, “This direct finish was bolted by Bertrand Lemaire and I started gave it a go two years ago, but I started working it seriously only last September.” She credits her winter competition training for giving her that extra oomph necessary to take the project down.
Rogora’s first 5.14d was Grandi Gesti, in Sperlonga, Italy. She was the first Italian woman to send the grade, and at the time she was the second youngest person to ever do so. In the years since, she has redpointed a number of other 9a’s, including Joe Cita, in Oliana, Spain, in 2017. More recently, in January 2019, she climbed Esclatamasters, also 9a, in Perles, Spain.
[Also Watch VIDEO: Anak Verhoeven’s First Ascent of Sweet Neuf (9a+/5.15a)]
Rèveille-toi is not Rogora’s first difficult first ascent, either. In January 2017, she established La Gasparata (8c+/9a 5.14c/d), also at Cueva di Collepardo, Italy. At the time, it was possibly the hardest first ascent ever completed by a woman. That distinction now belongs to Anak Verhoeven, who made the first ascent of Sweet Neuf (9a+/5.15a), at Pierrot Beach, France, in September 2017.
Check out the vide of Rogora’s first 5.14d back in 2016