Michaela Kiersch repeats La Rambla (F9a+)
- Thursday 2nd February 2023
American climber Michaela Kiersch has made the third female ascent of Siurana classic testpiece, La Rambla (F9a+).
Michaela has been on an impressive upward trajectory for the last couple of years but her repeat of La Rambla confirms her place amongst the hardest female climbers operating today. In September 2021 she sent her first F9a route with Dreamcatcher at Squamish which she followed up in March 2022 with a repeat of Hailstorm (V14/Font 8B+) in Ogden, Utah; her first of the grade. Remarkable Michaela also graduated with a PhD in a year; “Let’s see that get repeated” she joked on Instagram. In May of 2022, she also climbed New Base Line and Tigris Sit both of which are Font 8B+ at Magic Wood, Switzerland. These ascents have given Kiersch the distinction of being one of only a handful of female climbers to have climbed both F9a and Font 8B+.
Talking to 8a.nu about her repeat of the famous testpiece, Kiersch confirmed she redpointed La Rambla, her first F9a+, in a handful of days. Her first impression of La Rambla was encouraging as she told 8a.nu saying, “On my first try I did all the moves and felt super optimistic, but there were a few sections that felt super difficult and I was nervous about being able to link them together for a send.”
As often the case the Belgian climber Sébastien Berthe was on the route at the same time. As well as sharing beta with Séb, Michaela also soaked up beta from online videos. Kiersch told 8a.nu “Having others to climb with and share beta was super crucial for me. There are a few big moves - I ended up jumping in the middle and this is the section I fell on the most, maybe 5 tries.”
Impressively, Kiersch dispatched the route in ten sessions, “In the end, I stayed really positive and once I stuck the jump the first time I linked up to the top crux - that’s when I knew for sure it was possible. I fell there once more and then sent the next try.”
Kiersch is well-known for her tenacity and ability to make seemingly unlikely long dynamic moves despite her diminutive height as anyone who has watched the film of her climbing The Golden Ticket (5.14c/F8c+) in the Red River Gorge. Click here for our report of her climbing that back in 2017.
Prior to Kiersch's third female ascent of La Rambla, both Margo Hayes and Chaehyun Seo redpointed the testpiece in 2017 and 2022 respectively.