Jonathan Siegrist sends Stoking the fire (9b)

Jonathan Siegrist, who has previously completed four 9b’s, has repeated Chris Sharma’s Stoking the Fire (9b) in Santa Linya. ”A spectacularly hard route - and one that pushed me physically and even more so, mentally. Many big lessons to take away from this wild experience! Immensely, almost immeasurably stoked... My hardest. Now onward! -I used one left kneebar to clip before the first crux.” (c) Victoria Kohner

How long did you work it, and was there any small or subtle thing that got you to the anchor?
I tried the route for 6 weeks, I started feeling close a few weeks ago but no matter how hard I fought, it felt impossible to get all of the stars to align (conditions, skin, psyche, body, mind, etc). Because it's an intense mental battle - the most intense of my life, the trick was only to keep showing up and trying even when my ego, confidence, and hope was near to zero. I just kept fighting and got lucky with the last day, last try.

What’s your next plan and further 2023 plans?
I fly back to the states to get Married :) and then the plan is to return to Europe for the rest of the year. Just climbing "A muerte". We plan to live in France. Fingers crossed that I get the Visa...