Vanhee and Berthe sizing up The Dawn Wall

• Tuesday 11th January 2022

The word from a snowy Yosemite is that Siebe Vanhee and Seb Berthe are in town and sizing up The Dawn Wall.

Originally climbed to worldwide acclaim in January 2015 by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, The Dawn Wall saw its first repeat in November 2016 by Adam Ondra. Now Siebe Vanhee and Seb Berthe are beginning their guest for the third ascent. Gripped Magazine report that Yosemite climber Chris Van Leuven has lent Vanhee and Berthe some hardware for their attempt and that they intend to stay in Yosemite and attempt The Dawn Wall ‘for as long as it takes’.

Both Siebe Vanhee and Seb Berthe have Yosemite experience; Siebe Vanhee having previously climbed El Corazon (5.13b) with Nico Favresse over a four-day stint in 2017 whilst Seb Berthe did the fourth overall free, ground-up ascent of The Nose (5.14) in 2019.

Back in autumn 2021, Siebe Vanhee visited the Peak District where, despite poor weather, amassed a considerable tick-list of Hard Grit routes – click through here for that report.

The Dawn Wall is one of the longest (32-pitches) big wall climbs in the world having numerous hard pitches as well as the infamous 14^th and 15^th pitches. Overall, the pitches are as follows: 12b, 13a, 13c, 12b, 12d, 13c, 14a, 13d, 13c, 14a, 13c, 14b, 13b, 14d, 14d, 14c, 14a, 13c, 13c, 13c, 13c, 12c, 9, 11, 11, 11d, 11c, 12c, 12b, 13a, 12a, 12b.