Michaela Kiersch Climbing La Rambla 5.15a
After repeating Dreamcatcher 5.14d and sending her first V14, she made the 30th known ascent of this famous 5.15 in Spain
At the start of the year, American climber Michaela Kiersch sent La Rambla 5.15a in Siurana. Kiersch’s send was the third female ascent of the historic line. In February 2017, Margo Hayes became the first woman in the world to climb 5.15a with her send of the route. In November 2022, Chaehyun Seo made the second female ascent of the route.
Kiersch’s early 2023 send came after a big year of climbing, with repeats of climbs like Super Tweak 5.14b, America’s first of the grade, Dreamcatcher 5.14d in Squamish, and Hailstorm V14 in Ogden, her first of the grade.
La Rambla was originally bolted and climbed by German Alex Huber in 1994 as a 35-metre 5.14d, and it was later extended by Dani Andrada to become what it is today. Andrada didn’t make the first ascent, instead it was opened by Ramón Julián Puigblanque in 2003.
It starts with a 5.13 crack that leads to a traverse left and back right with stiff 5.14 climbing. It gets more overhanging “with violent moves on small holds and crimps,” said Jonathan Thesenga in 2012. Watch Kiersch’s send of La Rambla below.
La Rambla
La Rambla Sends
Ramón Julián Puigblanque in 2003 (FA)
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
Alex Megos in 2013 – on his second attempt
Daniel Jung in 2014
Jonathan Siegrist in 2015
David Firnenburg in 2017
Matty Hong in 2017
Margo Hayes in 2017 – first woman to climb a confirmed 5.15a
Stefano Ghisolfi in 2017
Jacopo Larcher in 2017 – a day after Stefano Ghisolfi
Klemen Becan in 2017
Séb Bouin in 2017
Tomás Ravanal in 2018
Gerard Rull in 2018
Jon Cardwell in 2018
Piotr Schab in 2019
Dave Graham in 2019
Gonzalo Larrocha in 2019
Cédric Lachat in 2019
Chaehyun Seo in 2022
Michaela Kiersch in 2023
Séb Berthe in 2023
La Rambla FA
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