Jumbo Love

Jumbo Love
Suprême Jumbo Love (Jumbo Love Direct)
3rd Tier crag on Clark Mountain. Jumbo Love is on the lighter-coloured overhanging walls, centre-right.
Map showing the location of Jumbo Love
Map showing the location of Jumbo Love
Approximate location of Jumbo Love
LocationClark Mountain, Mojave Desert, California, US
Coordinates35°31′39″N 115°36′32″W / 35.5275°N 115.609°W / 35.5275; -115.609[1]
Climbing area3rd Tier (Clark Mountain)[2]
Route typeSport climbing
Vertical gain76-metre (249 ft)[3]
Pitches1
Grade
  • Jumbo Love 9b (5.15b)
  • Supreme Jumbo Love 9b+ (5.15c)
Bolted byRandy Leavitt (1990s)[3]
First free ascent

Jumbo Love is a very long 76-metre (249 ft) sport climbing route, on remote limestone cliffs on Clark Mountain in the Mojave Desert. Bolted by American climber Randy Leavitt in the 1990s, he invited Chris Sharma to attempt it in 2007. When Sharma completed the first free ascent on September 11, 2008, the route became the first-ever rock climb in history to have a confirmed grade of 9b (5.15b), and it remains an important route in the history of rock climbing.[4]

The route has been repeated, and its grade confirmed, by a number of subsequent climbers, including French climber Seb Bouin, who made the fourth ascent on October 25, 2022. Bouin followed up his ascent by adding a direct start to the route on November 1, 2022, to create a route called Suprême Jumbo Love, which at 9b+ (5.15c) became North America's hardest climbing route and only the sixth 9b+ sport climbing route in history.[5]

  1. ^ "5.15b Jumbo Love, 80m Sport climb in Clark Mountain". theCrag. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  2. ^ Handren, Jerry (2020). Mojave Limestone. Handbook Publishing. pp. 20–26. ISBN 9781792349591. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Jumbo Love – History, Ascents and Media | Hard Climbs". hardclimbs.info. November 30, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference RIS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference SJL was invoked but never defined (see the help page).