David Firnenburg Has Repeated the Difficult La Rambla

David Firnenburg is a 21-year-old German champion and has repeated La Rambla 5.15a in Siurana after less than a week of work. This is his first 5.15 send. The top climbing site 8a.nu quoted Firnenburg as saying, “I haven’t trained specifically for the route it must have been my mental state and the strategy I’ve chosen how to cope with the challenge, I guess.

“I didn’t put any big pressure on myself, took it easy. Dedicated trying the route over and over again and didn’t switch to easier routes to build up the required endurance there. Got better with every try I made, adapted and optimized my beta after every fall or mistake. Finally the right conditions set in (cold and windy), I was convinced of sending it and suddenly stood on top.” Be sure to see more hard send and if you’re not a member, sign up to keep track of your climbs here.

David succeeding in "La Rambla" (9a+) in Siurana ❗️ • After some days of hard work he could clip the anchor yesterday. With its 45 meters this route is a true endurance challenge and has the crux section just before the top ? • Thereby David achieves his first route in this grade. We're curious what comes next ??? thanks for great picture ? @juliet_boo #makemovesnowar #rockclimbing #larambla #amuerte #escalada #climb #klettern #bouldering #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #hammer #escaladrome #highup @haglofs @scarpa_de @frictionlabs

A photo posted by ☞ David & Ruben Firnenburg ☜ (@firnenburgbrothers) on Feb 10, 2017 at 9:39am PST

La Rambla is at the famous El Pati crag and was first sent by Alexander Huber in 1994 and was repeated by Ramón Julián Puigblanque in 2003. Originally graded 5.14c, a short extension was added that didn’t change the grade but climbers have suggested the original route was 5.15a. This make it possibly the first 5.15a every climbed.

It has been repeated by Edu Marín Garcia in 2006, Chris Sharma in 2006 – a day after Edu Marín, Andreas Bindhammer in 2007, Patxi Usobiaga in 2007 – after nine tries, Adam Ondra in 2008 – after five tries, Enzo Oddo in 2011, Sachi Amma in 2012, Felix Neumärker in 2013, Sangwon Son in 2013, Alexander Megos in 2013 – on his second attempt, Daniel Jung in 2014 and Jonathan Siegrist in 2015. Watch Dani Andrada work on the steep line, which he has been working since 1996 but has not sent.