photos by Micah Humphrey
Last week Drew Ruana got the first ascent of Brave New World, which he is rating as 5.14d (9a~). That’s right, the first 5.14d in Washington state, baby!
This is a proud moment for me to be a part of the legacy of hard climbers and developers at World Wall One who have had the vision and put in the time to make hard routes grow out of this incredible stone over the past 25 years.
After countless hours standing on the tiny belay ledge at World Wall One in North Bend—the crag with the highest concentration of hard 5.13s and 5.14s in Washington state, a new line started to appear to me. I saw a way that I could link up a super-route.
As excited as I was to put up this line, it meant just as much to me to have Drew Ruana—a local climber—get the FA of Brave New World. Drew got in touch with me this spring, having heard through the grapevine that I had a super-route in the works. The day I bolted, he came up with me and we worked closely to determine bolt placement. (For those of you keeping track at home, it was a little over six months from the initial conversation to the send—and that was with Nationals and a whole lotta travel in between.) He’s an incredible athlete and an all-around good guy; it’s a pleasure to work and climb with him. No show-boating, just good, clean climbing.
For you bold souls who would like to go and take a stab at the second ascent, let me give you the lay of the land. You start the route on Aborigine (5.11a), then ditch out left and connect with Whore of Babylon (5.14b), where I would say the real route begins. At the end of the Whore’s crux (V10), you ditch out left again onto newly bolted rock. For the next four bolts you’re in new territory that connects you directly into the Pornstar crux (V5/6) before traversing the feet of Flatliner’s crux (V6/7) as you move immediately into Lost Horizons (5.14a), where you finish. If you finish.
Drew says, “This line is full of bad rests, and long run [o]uts. It has some of the most sustained power endurance cruxes I’ve ever tried.”
Take New World Order (5.14c), remove the three big rests, and add a handful of boulder problems. That, my friends, is your Brave New World.