Black Diamond Presents: Hard Sends with Seb Bouin—El Gran Cabron, China’s First 5.15b

I heard about China few years ago with this amazing arch in Ghetto and this cool crags in Yangshuo. Recently I heard about this new place, Shigen, with this cool and beautiful hard route to try. It was an opportunity for me to discover the country and try to find the next king line. When I understood what was going on with all this cave around me, I knew this trip will not be the last one. When we arrived in China, River was here to welcome and guide us in order to discover this huge Shigen cave. We didn't lose any second and we went straight to the cave. I was really looking forward to seeing this cave, especially considering how long and exhausting the trip to China was. When for the first time I saw this monster, I was really amazed by the texture of the rock and the shape of the cave itself. Coming here, I wasn't expecting this unlimited playground. In Europe, I'm used to overhanging wall with sofa, but here everything takes on a whole new dimension. When you see this monster, you just start thinking about the endless routes you could bolt or climb, wondering if a single lifetime would even be enough to tackle them all. From the first route I did in this cave, I understood directly it's something new I'm not used to climb. This rock is limestone that's been smoothed by water, so there is almost no friction and it's all about compression and foot pressure, which actually suits my climbing style quite well. The idea of developing this cave came from River. He contacted the Spanish team, Daniel Andrada, Jonathan Flore, Tony Arbones and David Gambus, and they came in September 2024 to bolt many hard routes. So on the first day at the cave, I was really motivated to check out the hardest project, Chateau El Gran Cabron bolted by David Gambus. Jonathan Flore was trying the moves in September and said it should be around 9b, so it was perfectly the level I want for travel. I was definitely not disappointed by the route. It's truly beautiful and a lot of fun to climb. This route has all the qualities to make it a kingline. Sorry for the long time. The holds were dirty and I'm having a hard time reading the beta. This rock doesn't give up its secret easily and it takes a while to really understand it. I have not many projects around the world because a long-term project in climbing is kind of exhausting in the mindset and also exhausting with the travel. So if you have a hard project and beautiful project around your house or around your home, it's way more easier to be focused and a bit chill. I am really happy to find a kingline and a hard project to try, but I am also really happy to discover all the potential and all the caves around. Oh ----, I didn't expect that. What the **** man? Bigger than I expected. We were searching for new caves around this place. Every day we were finding a new one and finding inspiring and beautiful walls. But here I was thinking this is on the ground but there is at least 20 meters more. It will take ages before everything will be bolted and climb here. Basically, it's a two-day climbing and one-day rest rhythm. So on the day off, we went to the surroundings to see what kind of walls are possible. Of course, he was really looking at some walls that might be very difficult to find. We went to a few caves. I don't know what can be more inspiring than being here with all these virgin caves to discover. Who came up with this idea? Access is far away. We are developing another, this one. More convenient. Discovering all these caves and all this rock is amazing, but at some point I want to focus on the project and come back on the kingline. And I think I have something enough hard for this trip. You have this first 7c AET which is quite easy with a lot of big tufas. And then you arrive to this first boulder problem which is 7b plus 7c with a cool tufa to pinch hard. And from here you have like this long AET boulder problem with a lot of pinches and a lot of knee bars. It's quite hard to understand all the beta and it takes a lot of time. And then there is this final section with a boulder around 7c with this tricky knee bar to use to get this far away undercling. This left knee bar is really slippery and it's hard to keep it to go to the next hole. I think without this boulder it will be 9a plus, 15a. With this boulder it's 15b. And then there is this last 7a boulder to reach the top with this crimpy undercling to get the right gaston. I was thinking it would not take so much time to put some tries but at the end it took me forever to find the beta and to figure out how to use my knee bar and how to use my body on all these holes. It's a really complex climbing. I was surprised the time I needed to find the beta. Sometimes the holes are good but not that good because there is no friction so it's hard to know how to move on it. If this knee bar works it's amazing. This doesn't work. Yeah because this right move it's definitely doable but coming from the move before it's like... I took a break from the main project to go bolt a beautiful line two hours from here that currently looks like biography. For sure if you are exploring and bolting during your rest day it makes you a bit more tired to try hard in the project. But at the same time you want to do everything. Being in China is a unique opportunity and you are not sure you will ever come back. It's higher than expected. I haven't had the chance to try the line yet but I would love to if I have time before the end of the trip. Good rest day. This bolting break helped me to clear my mind and now I feel fresh and motivated to get back to the main project. At the end I fell many times on the crux too. I could do it independently but it was way harder to send it from the ground. There are too much possibilities for the knee bars. It's kind of crazy. Dude I broke a piece of old. Stupid. After giving good tries and being real close I was not able to send the routes and I have to come back home now. The goal is quite simple, train hard and come back to China again. I had only one thing on my mind to get back and finish the job. I need the rest day. It was a bit stupid to try today. During the first trip it was hard to maintain the power up. So the plan was to build a board to train between the tries. It's really cool to have this board in the cave because you can mix between rock climbing and specific training. It's also fun to switch things up and you can do some bouldering with other climbers at night. Even beginners can try it. It gave me the chance to share my passion for climbing with the locals. Training makes a huge difference on the process. Being able to see so much during rest days and it's not only about rocks it's also about culture and people around. The lifestyle is so much different than Europe here. It's such a big chance to be able to change the mind so much actually during rest day and cutting from the project discovering new things. It's so rich. The food is different. You wake up and you have spicy noodles and it's quite hard on the first days. The way of eating is different. We have like many many different meals and everyone is sharing things. People here take care a lot of the other people. It's so nice to be able to play table tennis, play mahjong, play table tennis. It's so nice to be able to play together. It feels like I'm back to my childhood. Everyone is having fun here. After sending the 9b I was really psyched to check the left exit. I put few more bolts to see if this left option would be possible for me. So I already add the bolt to the right to traverse but this one is way much too much to the left. And it makes like rope drag and it's hard to clip. So I think about here it will be the unique bolt I can clip in the sequence because the two previous ones I just skip them. So I have like just to add a new one. And actually it's amazing. They are such a cool and hard move. I think it's harder than the 9b and I would like to see if it's possible before leaving. You have this left traverse after the main crux of the 9b and then you have this amazing 80 plus boulder on big pinches. It's really hard because you have to be so precise on the feet and also on the knee bars and these holds are so big that it's really hard to put strength on it. The boulder is really complex. I didn't expect to find beautiful line and such a cool challenge in China. I was not sure about what we will find over there but at the end it was maybe one of the best trip in my life. The mix of culture, climbing, challenge and the warm welcome from people make this trip unforgettable. Making such a hard route so far from home has been an incredible experience. This trip will stay with me forever.