La Rambla (climb)

La Rambla
Huber's route, not to be confused with La Rambla Original (which is an alternative name used for La Rambla Extension)
El Pati sector, Siurana, Spain
Location	Siurana, Spain
Climbing Area	El Pati
Route Type	Sport climb
Vertical Gain	35 metres (115 ft)
Pitches	1
Rating	9a (5.14d) or 9a+ (5.15a)
Bolted by	Alexander Huber
First free ascent	Alexander Huber, 1994

La Rambla, also referred to as La Rambla Extension, La Rambla Direct or La Rambla Original is a famously difficult 41 metres (135 ft) long route located at the El Pati crag in Siurana, Catalonia (Spain), originally bolted by Alexander Huber and later extended by Dani Andrada.

A previous version of this route, bolted by Huber, was 6 metres (20 ft) shorter than the current one. Huber first climbed it in 1994 and called it La Rambla. Later, Dani Andrada extended the route to reach a higher anchor. Namely, the anchor of a nearby route called La Reina Mora. Andrada's project, initially referred to as La Rambla Extension, was first climbed in 2003 by Ramón Julián Puigblanque,^[1] after more than forty failed attempts. Since then, all repetitions were made on the extended route and Huber's intermediate anchor was eventually removed. That is why the name La Rambla, which initially referred to Huber's shorter route, is nowadays widely used to indicate the extended route as well.

In 1994, Huber graded his route 8c+ (5.14c).^[2] However, he actually meant that it was about as difficult as Wolfgang Güllich's Action Directe, which at that time was considered to be 8c+/9a and was later upgraded to 9a (5.14d).^[3]

Puigblanque climbed Huber's route four or five times and upgraded it to 9a+ (5.15a), then he managed to redpoint the extended route as well. The additional six meters needed to reach the higher anchor slightly increased the difficulty of the ascent.^[4] About half a grade harder plus than it was,^[5] according to Adam Ondra, the fifth climber who repeated the route, in 2008.

Huber's abandoned original project[]

The final version of Huber's route was 35 metres (115 ft) long. However, he originally wanted to reach a higher anchor. Namely, the anchor of a nearby route called La Reina Mora, also bolted by him. He gave up after breaking a hold, and set an intermediate anchor 6 meters lower.

After Huber's ascent, Dani Andrada linked the route to the last section of La Reina Mora in order to reach Huber's original anchor, 6 meters higher. He achieved his goal by bolting a short traverse to the right, starting from the last hold of Huber's route, a 3-finger pocket just below the intermediate anchor. The extended route is 41 metres (135 ft) long, and is known as La Rambla Extension or La Rambla Direct, as opposed to Huber's La Rambla.

Since Andrada just intended to restore, as much as possible, Huber's original project, his extended route is sometimes also called, quite misleadingly, La Rambla Original. An ambiguous name which should be probably avoided, because Huber's abandoned project is unknown to most people.^[6]

Ratings[]

Puigblanque rated both La Rambla and La Rambla Extension 9a+ (5.15a). La Rambla Extension was harder, but not hard enough to justify a higher grade. According to Puigblanque, the crux is in Huber's route, then there's a rest (about 5 meters below Huber's intermediate anchor), and "the last 35 feet [up to and past Huber's anchor] could be graded between 5.13c (8a+) and 5.13d (8b)".^[4] The extended route was later repeated by many others, who confirmed Puigblanque's rating.

La Rambla[]

Huber strongly maintained that his 35 meter version of La Rambla was 9a (5.14d). In his opinion, the route "is not harder than" Wolfgang Güllich's Action Directe, the world's first 9a,^[3] while others disagree with him and argue that it merits a harder grade. This is the reason why Huber's version of La Rambla is not considered to be world's first 9a+ route, although it was climbed in 1994, two years earlier than Open Air, which is now widely considered the world's first 9a+ route (see Notable first free ascents).

La Rambla Extension[]

There are two possible ways to climb the additional 6 meters of La Rambla Extension. Immediately after Andrada's traverse, you can either decide to climb directly upwards to the higher anchor, or you can traverse about one meter farther, and grab a very large hold ("jug") which allows you to rest as much as needed to complete the climb. Most repeaters used the jug, but Puigblanque and Adam Ondra decided not to use it,^[7] as they wanted to stay as close as possible to the line of Huber's original project. However, they were perfectly aware that their choice was just a matter of preference. Taking that rest is by all means legitimate, as it is close to one of Andrada's bolts.

Because of that rest, climbing the last 6 meters of La Rambla Extension becomes significantly easier. So much easier that Huber maintains this section of the route is "irrelevant", compared to the rest of the route,^[3] which suggests that from his perspective, La Rambla Extension could be just another 9a (5.14d), the same grade as La Rambla.^[3]

However, importantly, Huber did not climb La Rambla Extension, and the climbers who actually have climbed it support a consensus grade off 9a+, harder than La Rambla.^[4] According to Adam Ondra, it is about half a grade harder, "if you use the jug for rest".^[5] This implies that either La Rambla is a 9a and Rambla Extension is a low end 9a+, or La Rambla is a low end 9a+, and La Rambla extension is just a harder 9a+. After Margo Hayes completed the first female ascent in 2017, attempts were made to claim it at a lower grade.^{[citation needed]}

Repetitions[]

The repeat ascents were by:

• in 2006 - Video
• Chris Sharma in 2006 - a day after Edu Marín, after about 20 tries^[8] - Video
• in 2007
• Patxi Usobiaga in 2007 - after nine tries
• Adam Ondra in 2008 - after five tries - Video
• Enzo Oddo in 2011^[9]
• Sachi Amma in 2012
• in 2013^[10] - Video
• Alexander Megos in 2013 - on his second attempt^[11]
• Sangwon Son in 2013.
• in 2014
• in 2015^[12]
• David Firnenburg in 2017
• in 2017^[13]
• Margo Hayes in 2017 - making her the first woman to climb a confirmed/consensus 9a+ (5.15a)^[14] - Video
• Stefano Ghisolfi in 2017^[15]
• Jacopo Larcher in 2017 - a day after Stefano Ghisolfi^[16]
• in 2017^[17]
• Sébastien Bouin in 2017
• Tomás Ravanal in 2018^[18][19]
• Gerard Rull in 2018
• Jon Cardwell in 2018
• Dave Graham in 2019
• Piotr Schab in 2019^[20]
• Gonzalo Larrocha in 2019^[21]
• Cédric Lachat in 2019

See also[]

Notable first free ascents

References[]

External links[]

• Description of the route (in Spanish)
• Forum about Alex Huber's interview
• Ramon Julian, 2nd ascent 2003, plus 7m of extension via Reina Mora. The linked up routes are called La Rambla Direct.
• Adam Ondra on revised grading in recent years
• Alex Huber on recent revised grading

Coordinates: 41°15′29″N 0°55′56″E / 41.25806°N 0.93222°E / 41.25806; 0.93222