Dan Mirsky has climbed Kinder Cakes (9a+, 5.15a) in Rifle, Colorado. At 44, it's his first route of the grade and the hardest thing he has ever done. Joe Kinder made the first ascent in 2021 on a line straight out of the Skull Cave, giving Rifle its first 5.15a. It starts up Cupcake and keeps going.

It's only the fourth ascent. Jonathan Siegrist repeated it in 2022 and Tyler Thompson made the third ascent in August. "Stylistically, this one didn't suit me very well," Mirsky admits. Just doing Cupcake felt savage at first. By the end he was reaching the top of the crux, a wide, powerful jump to the lip of the cave, almost every session, but couldn't break through.

It finally came together on a grey, rainy day, with low expectations and sticky conditions. Mirsky says it's his 100th route of 5.14 or harder, almost exactly twenty years after his first 14a. His secret to setting personal bests in his mid-forties? Listen to your body, don't take it all too seriously, and don't skip the beer and chocolate chip cookies.

Sources: 8a.nu, Climbing History, Gripped