Simon Lorenzi Explained

Simon Lorenzi
Nationality:	Belgian
Birth Date:	January 1, 1997
Birth Place:	Barchon, Blegny, Belgium
Occupation:	Professional climber
Height:	168 cm^[1]
Apeindex:	+12 cm

Simon Lorenzi (born 1 January 1997) is a Belgian professional rock climber specializing in sport climbing, bouldering and competition climbing. Lorenzi is one of the very few climbers to have repeated a bouldering route, and the third climber to solve Burden of Dreams, the first-ever graded boulder route. Lorenzi also made the first ascent of Soudain Seul, a V16/V17 boulder.

Early life

Lorenzi was born in Belgium and started climbing at age 2 with his father Claude Lorenzi, who was one of Belgium's leading rock climbers of the 1990s, and who created Belgium's first graded sport climbing route, La traction universelle, in 1994.

Climbing career

Competition climbing

Lorenzi began his competition climbing career in 2010 when he "unexpectedly" won a Belgium Youth Cup competition. By 2016, he had won the gold medal in the Junior category at the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships for competition lead climbing.

Bouldering

In February 2021, Lorenzi made the first ascent of Soudain Seul, a sit-start to Dave Graham's 2008 graded bouldering route in Fontainebleau called The Island, which was later extended by two small moves by Vincent Pochon in 2010 to become The Big Island, also at the grade. Soudain Seul was considered one of the "last great problems" in Fontainebleau. Lorenzi proposed a grade of, and at the time, the only other boulder in the world with such a grade was Nalle Hukkataival's 2016 problem, Burden of Dreams. Subsequent repeats by Nico Pelorson in 2021 and Camille Coudert in 2022 softened the likely grade to V16/V17.

In December 2022, he became the fourth climber to repeat Shawn Raboutou's 2022 problem Alphane, which has since become accepted as having a grade of . After completing Alphane, Lorenzi said that he felt Soudain Seul was at least as hard as Alphane.^[2] In December 2023, he became only the third climber to repeat Burden of Dreams, the world's first-ever graded bouldering route.

Notable ascents

• Burden of Dreams – Lappnor, Finland – 27 December 2023. Third ascent.^[3]
• Alphane – Chironico, Switzerland – 15 December 2022. Fourth ascent.^[4]

• Soudain Seul – Fontainebleau, France – February 2021. First ascent.^{[5] [6] [3] [7]}

• Big Conviction – Fontainebleau, France – February 2022. First ascent.^{[8] [9]}
• Off the Wagon Low – Val Bavona, Switzerland – February 2022.^[10]
• La Révolutionnaire – Fontainebleau, France – February 2022.^[11]

• Foundation's Edge – Fionnay, Switzerland – September 2022.^[12]
• Satan I Helvete Low – Fontainebleau, France – 2022.^[13]
• Power of Now direct – Magic Wood, Switzerland – 2021. First ascent.^[14]
• The Big Island – Fontainebleau, France – 2020.^[15]
• Dreamtime – Cresciano, Switzerland – January 2019. Lorenzi's first V15 boulder.^[8]

• Coup d'État – La Tranchée, Belgium – 28 June 2020. First ascent.^[16]
• Action Directe – Waldkopf, Frankenjura (GER) – 2017.^[17]

Rankings

IFSC Climbing World Cup

Discipline	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2021	2022	2023	2024
Lead	75	69	38	72	41		93	35
Bouldering			66		53	10	39	16

Climbing World Championships

Youth^[18]

See also

• Will Bosi

External links

• Soundain Seul V16/V17, HardClimbs (2024)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Profile: Simon LORENZI . . 2024 . 1 March 2024.
2. Web site: . Will Bosi Gets Second Ascent of 'Return of the Sleepwalker'—Confirms V17 . Stephen . Potter . 21 February 2024 . 21 February 2024.
3. Web site: . Interview: Simon Lorenzi Makes Third Ascent of 'Burden of Dreams' . 2 January 2024 . 1 March 2024 . Stephen . Potter.
4. Web site: . Simon Lorenzi on Making the 4th Ascent of "Alphane" . 17 December 2022 . 1 March 2024 . Stephen . Potter .
5. Web site: PlanetMountain . Simon Lorenzi talks Soudain seul, his 9A boulder problem at Fontainebleau in France . February 2021 . 1 March 2024.
6. Web site: PlanetMountain . Soudain Seul, the trailer of Simon Lorenzi's boulder at Fontainebleau . October 2021 . 1 March 2024.
7. Web site: Soudain Seul (V16/V17 - 8C+/9A): Is this the REAL 2nd V17? . HardClimbs . 2024 . 2 March 2024.
8. Web site: . Stephen . Potter . Simon Lorenzi Establishes Another V16 Low Start to Fontainebleau's Classic The Island. . 1 February 2022 . 2 March 2024.
9. Web site: Simon Lorenzi makes his Big Conviction 8C+ at Fontainebleau . PlanetMountain . January 2022 . 1 March 2024.
10. Web site: Simon Lorenzi repeats Off the Wagon Low 8C+ in Val Bavona, Switzerland . PlanetMountain . November 2021 . 1 March 2024.
11. Web site: Grimper . La Révolutionnaire, another 8C+ for Simon Lorenzi! . 22 February 2022 . 2 March 2024 . fr. fr.
12. Web site: Redaktion . 2022-09-06 . Simon Lorenzi climbs Foundation's Edge (8C) at breakneck speed and targets Alphane (9A). . 2024-02-23 . Lacrux Klettermagazin . en.
13. Web site: Climbing History Satan i Helvete (Bas) 8B+ . 2024-02-23 . climbing-history.org.
14. Web site: No sooner said than done: Simon Lorenzi climbs the Power of Now (8c) . 13 July 2021 .
15. https://www.8a.nu/news/the-big-island-8c-b+-by-simon-lorenzi
16. https://www.8a.nu/news/coup-detat-9a-fa-by-simon-lorenzi
17. Web site: Simon Lorenzi enchaîne "Action Directe", son premier 9a !. 2017-05-15. Quentin Coster. fr-fr. 2017-05-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20170513080306/http://www.climb2climb.be/news/outdoor/2759-simon-lorenzi-enchaine-action-directe-son-premier-9a. dead.
18. Web site: Official website of the International Federation of Sport Climbing .