Mikayla Tougas Sends Quebec’s First Blood M11

Mikayla Tougas has made the first female ascent of First Blood M11 at St. Alban in Quebec.

Zac st. Jules reported the new this morning, saying, “A Canadian and an American from the northeast spent a couple of days at St. Alban to get in some training before winter.

“We both sent Nathan Kutcher’s First Blood and Mikayla got the first female ascent.”

Our Canada trip was a huge success and lots of fun!! Got to explore a new area and hangout with amazing people! @zacst.julesclimbing and I managed to send @nathankutcher 's climb First Blood (D11)! And @angertroy somehow found a bat hang at the top of a D9! Thanks to eveyone that made this trip so incredible! ? @_jonmercer_ @climbbutora @8bplus_rockclimbing @fulsend @usaiceclimbing_ #aacgram #climbing #drytooling #rockandice #canada #cutfeetlookstrong #tryhard #motivated #neverstopexploring #livingthedream #justsendit

A post shared by Mikayla Tougas (@mikaylatougas) on Sep 15, 2018 at 1:50pm PDT

First Blood is the hardest route at St. Alban and was opened in 2015 by Kutcher. “I bolted it and climbed it a few weekends ago,” he said after the first ascent.

“It crosses and clips a few existing routes and bolts. Mostly all new climbing/moves except for the very end. Only shares a couple holds in the middle, but climbs a different line to and from the holds. The start is all new. No drilled holds.

“I did it first try, but I knew where all the holds were. Its long by St. Alban standards and steep. Has two hard moves and a lot of pump.

Tougas is a 19-year-old competition climber from Massachusetts who placed 15th at the IFSC World Youth Championships in Guangzhou, China, in 2016. This spring, she finished seventh in the Canadian Open Boulder Nationals.

On a recent trip to Colorado, Tougas sent hard drytool routes such as King Cobra V11 in Vail. When she wasn’t scratching her way up classic winter lines, she was projecting difficult boulder problems.

Tougas is relatively new to drytooling, but she’s applying her strength from comp climbing and bouldering to core-intensive sport.

St. Alban is an all bolted dry-tooling crag near Quebec City. The rock is not the best, but it makes for great early season training with over 60 dry-tool routes.

Photographer Jon Mercer was on hand to capture Tougas and Zac st. Jules sends. Watch below.