September's First Ascents

Call it the September of Sends. This month has been a productive one in the climbing world, with athletes all over the planet putting up some big first ascents on remote cliffs and local boulders, and there's still a third of it left. Here are a few stories to inspire you to keep climbing while the sending's good:

In Idaho, Jonathan Siegrist claimed the first ascent of  the state's hardest route, Algorithm, a 5.14d (9a). In the same week, he also established and sent a single-pitch 5.14a trad route he named Enter the Dragon.

Farther east, Evan Race conquered The Era of Lobotomy in the Nine Corner Lake area of New York's 6 million-acre Adirondack Mountains. The tentative V12 rating would make the bouldering problem the hardest in the area. Previously, Pot of Gold V11/V12 held the title.

The North Face Blog/Matt Segal

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, North Face athletes Emily Harrington and Matt Segal tackled cliffs in Crimea, Ukraine. The duo completed a four-pitch 5.13a climb they dubbed "Call Me Maybe," after the Carly Rae Jepson song. According to Harrington, the climb required "greasy foot smears, cryptic body positions, delicate shifts of balance, and just straight crimping like your life depends on it."

To learn more about the importance of first ascents and the ethics of establishing new routes, check out ABYSS: North America's Highest Bouldering.