Jakob Schubert sends Shaolin (9A) at Red Rocks

35-year-old Jakob Schubert has repeated Shaolin, the 9A boulder at Red Rocks, USA, established by Sean Bailey in November 2024. This is the Austrian climber's third 9A after Alphane (2023) and Mount Doom (2025), but is differs significantly from his previous two; while thesefeature long sequences of consistent difficulty on granite, Shaolin boils down to two hard crux moves on sandstone.

The send came on the penultimate day of a multi-week trip to Red Rocks, following an intense physical and mental process that included issues with skin, a small hold break, and having to rework sequences he'd already dialed in.

Writing on Instagram, Schubert explained "I fell in love immediately ;-) truly one of the best boulders in the world. A proud aesthetic bloc, perfect landing, obvious start, amazing holds and not just one but two of the coolest moves I've ever done." He added "Mentally, I struggled much more with staying 100% focused setting up for one of the big crux moves on Shaolin compared to the consistently hard climbs like Alphane or MD. And when I was starting to doubt that I would be able to send… I finally stuck the last move and topped out in pure joy and disbelief."

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