Angy Eiter redpoints her second F9b
- Wednesday 16th December 2020
News is emerging that Angy Eiter, the first women to redpoint F9b, redpointed Madame Ching in August and her second route of the grade.
Restricted by the ongoing covid pandemic Angy Eiter, turned her attention to what became known as Madame Ching on a crag near her home in the Austrian Tyrolean Oberland. Originally bolted in 2018 by Angy’s husband, Bernie Ruech, the route needed cleaning before she could start the process of working the moves out.
Despite numerous injuries Angy had to train hard for the route; the weather was against her on the day of her successful redpoint as she explains: “Two days before the sun was shining, so I was confident to see my route in good condition. I felt very strong. When I arrived, it was totally wet. Luckily, I waited an hour and used tissues to dry the holds and a strong wind came up – because a thunderstorm was growing uncomfortably near – and the wall dried off. It was a tricky thing as I knew I had to do it then because otherwise it would rain heavily. About five moves before the top, I felt rain on my skin, but the last part was easy."
Angy named the route Madame Ching after a Chinese pirate adding: “I’m not the strongest woman and I’m very small, and I’m happy that I can show other women that they can also do it."
The 100-move route is Angy’s second F9b; she climbed her first F9b, La Planta de Shiva in Villanueva del Rosario, Spain in 2017. Click here for our report into that ascent. Previously, Angy had climbed four F9a routes between 2014 and 2019 in Austria, Spain and Italy.
Angy compares her latest route, Madame Ching, to La Planta de Shiva saying: “Madame Ching is similar to the 9b at La Planta de Shiva as it traverses from right to left up to the overhang.” She also says it could be her hardest route yet: “Personally, I would say that the route could be as hard as my hardest route yet. However, difficulty aside, the route was exactly my style. For my climbing future, I wish for finding another route like this one. This route means a lot to me. Not only has the route really beautiful moves, but also a lot of hard moves in total and working on this moves is something I really like.”
The 34-year old Austrian climber is also a four-time World Cup holder, four-time World Champion and won a European Championship gold medal.
As well as Angy Eiter, only Laura Rogora and Julia Canourdie have redpointed F9b; Eiter is, however, the first women ever to do a first ascent of a new route of this grade.
Cliock here to go to the Redbull website to watch a video of Angy climbing the route.