In 2025 several climbers reached new milestones across disciplines. Katie McKinstry Stylros (USA) became the first woman to climb D15+/D16-level dry tooling, redpointing “Parallel World” in the Dolomites. Brooke Raboutou (USA) became the first woman to climb 5.15c, sending “Excalibur” in Arco. At 20, William Moss (USA) completed a rope-solo of the 5.14a R route “China Doll” in Colorado (a rope-solo is climbing the route alone using a rope for protection), then flashed El Capitan’s big wall routes and free-climbed The Nose in under 24 hours. Katie Lamb (USA) achieved the first female V16 boulder ascent on “Darkside” in Yosemite. Adam Ondra (Czech) flashed the trad testpiece “Lexicon” (5.14R/E11 7a), a highly dangerous route with potential 25m falls. Americans Kate Kellegan and Laura Pino became the first women to complete the Yosemite “Triple Crown” (El Capitan, Mount Watkins, Half Dome) within 24 hours. Bailin Miller (USA) soloed the Slovak Direct on Denali’s south face but later died in a climbing fall in Yosemite. Veronica Amy Chik (China), age 10, became the youngest climber to send 5.14b with “Fisheye” in Oliana, Spain. (Note: grades like 5.15c, V16, D16, and R indicate technical difficulty and risk levels in climbing.)
