Jorge Díaz-Rullo makes third ascent of Siurana's Sleeping Lion

After laying the groundwork over the last couple of months, last Friday Spain's Jorge Díaz-Rullo managed to repeat Sleeping Lion, one of the king lines of Siurana put up by Chris Sharma in March 2023. At the time the American suggested the grade of 9b+, but Alex Megos after claiming the second ascent last month felt it warranted 9b. The climber from Madrid has not as yet proffered a grade.

Díaz-Rullo first started trying the climb in November and progress initially was promising, but the jump close to the start proved to be his personal crux, with the 25-year-old making good links from here to the top on various occasions. Managing to combine perfect physical shape and good conditions in Siurana proved more complicated than he originally thought, but he stuck at it and on Friday to climb one of Siurana's hardest last week.

Sleeping Lion marks another major step in Díaz-Rullo's climbing career. In 2023 he repeated Bibliographie (9b+) at Céüse and established Mejorando la Samfaina (9b+) at Margalef, while his other 9b's include the first ascent of Cafe Solo at Margelef in 2021, and repeats of First Round First Minute at Margalef in 2021 and El Bon Combat at Cova de Ocell in 2020.

Díaz-Rullo thanks: Petzl, SCARPA, E9, Climbskin and Mushroompad