Over the course of the past couple of years Jonathan Siegrist has made quick work of hard 5.14s across the country and around the world with repeats of routes like Kryptonite (5.14d) at Colorado’s Fortress of Solitude and American Gangster (5.14c) in Yangshuo, China as well as a slew of repeats and two hard first ascents in Kentucky. It seemed like a matter of time before Siegrist would find a route that would really challenge him, and a challenge is exactly what he found in the Virgin River Gorge’s Necessary Evil (5.14c).
Necessary Evil, which adds a direct start to the Boone Speed route The Route Of All Evil (5.14a), was first done way back in 1996 by an up and coming Chris Sharma. It has long stood as a testpiece and its list of repeaters reads like a who’s who of American climbers with names like Caldwell, Campbell, Graham, Litz, Woods and Pringle among those who have clipped the chains.
Now, after an extended battle against “frustration, terribly fickle conditions, and some severely height dependent cruxes”, Siegrist can add his name to the aforementioned list of climbers who have climbed Necessary Evil. Calling it a “rite of passage in American sport climbing” Siegrist shares the full story in his usual fashion on his blog.
Here’s some old footage of Dave Graham sending the line
