Marine Thevenet Becomes the 8th Women to Climb V15
On October 11, Marine Thevenet, 35, made the first female ascent of Juneru in Albarracín, Spain, becoming the eighth woman in the world to climb V15. Juneri was first climbed by Rubén Díaz Torres and has seen multiple repeats, including by longtime trad star James Pearson.
24-years after Fred Nicole climbed Dreamtime, in Cresciano, Switzerland, V15 remains a haloed marker of difficulty. Ashima Shiraishi was the first woman to climb the grade when she made the second ascent of Dai Koyamada’s Horizon, in Mount Hiei, Japan. Since then, only Mishka Ishii, Kaddi Lehmann, Jana Švecová, Brooke Rabatou, Katie Lamb, Janja Garnbret, and—now—Marine Thevenet have climbed so hard.
Thevenet found climbing at the age of 10, through Club Vertige in Beaujolais, France. She quickly took to the competition scene, entering her first Youth World Cup in 2004, at age 15, and continuing on the circuit for the next 12 years. Although she began with a Lead background, Thevenet eventually began focusing on Boulder, which led to several top ten World Cup finishes, including fifth place at Innsbruck in 2014.
By 2016, however, Thevenet found herself unable to pursue high level competition while also trying to foster a career as a contract lawyer. So she retired from competing and shifted her climbing focus to outdoor bouldering. “I love it,” Thevenet says. “I get to be with friends, and follow obvious lines outside.”
She had climbed her first 8A (V11) when she was 25, but after retiring from competitions, she set herself the goal of completing 30 8A boulders by the time she turned thirty. Now 35, she’s climbed more than 100 problems 8A or harder. Some of her “proudest” ascents include iconic lines such as Dave Graham’s Scarred for Life (V12) and Nothin’ but Sunshine (V13). She climbed her first V14 in 2020 with an ascent of Magic Wood’s New Base Line and in 2022 repeated Bishop’s Compass North (V14).
That same year, Thevenet, now living in Annecy, France, started SweeMT: a sports agency dedicated to managing contracts with extreme athletes from all around the world. Presently, SweeMT works with climbers, alpinists, cross country skiers, and paragliders. Despite this workload, she’s continued to improve in her bouldering.
Visiting Albarracin last October, Thevenet climbed Lost in Silence (V13) and tried Juneru “by chance” as a no-commitment project. She surprised herself by feeling good on the moves, which motivated her to invest some actual effort. That same trip, she had a good attempt by sticking the bottom crux move and taking a spectacular fall off the topout (embedded below). “I knew exactly what I needed to do to climb Juneru, and I spent this September training specifically for it,” Thevenet said. “I did lots of lockoffs and muscular strength training to hold the positions between each move.”
She spent her first two sessions of 2024 reacquainting herself with the moves and climbing the end of the problem perfectly. Once she had the top dialed, she began focusing on sticking the low crux well enough to carry on. And on her third session, she sent the boulder. “Mentally, I had an easy time with Juneru,” Thevenet told Climbing. “Initially, I was a bit scared to return for it, but once I tried the boulder I let my motivation lead me to the top!”
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