RMNP Summer Sends: Brooke Raboutou and Natalia Grossman
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BROOKE RABOUTOU IS UNSTOPPABLE
Brooke Raboutou started the summer off strong, sending her first V14, Muscle Car, in Rocky Mountain National Park on May 20. In August, she ticked two V14s in a day: Jade and Two Ton Skeleton. While sending Jade, Raboutou felt “as though I was floating up the wall,” she wrote on Instagram. Raboutou’s send marks the second female ascent, after Alex Puccio in 2014. Raboutou also sent numerous V13s: Chimichanga, Wheel of Fortune, Wheel of Chaos, Freaks of the Industry, and more. “I feel so grateful to have this time to explore the park,” she wrote on Instagram. “I have learned so much in the past few months from pushing myself outdoors.” When the 19-year-old qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games last year, she was the first U.S. climber to do so.
NATALIA GROSSMAN ON A SENDING SPREE
Natalia Grossman, 19, made a name for herself last year after placing seventh in the Bouldering World Cup in Vail, Colorado. She then placed sixth in Lead, fourth in Speed and second in Bouldering at the Youth World Championships in Arco, Italy. Since the pandemic, Grossman has, for the first time in her life, turned her attention to the outdoors. “Who misses comps? Update: I DON’T MISS COMPS!” she posted on Instagram in April. Grossman has since added four V13s to her tick list in the past 11 week —Wheel of Fortune, Jeremiah Low, The Shining (V12/V13) and Freaks of the Industry. Not only that, Grossman achieved a personal goal. She posted: “I decided to make it a goal of mine to send 50 new double-digit boulders before summer ended/school started and to explore the amazing areas that Colorado has to offer.”
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