She also got her first 5.14a onsight with ‘Crimptonite,’ in Oliana.
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Michaela Kiersch has sent her second 5.15a, Víctima Perfecta, at the Raco de la Finestra crag in Margalef, Spain. She also made her first 5.14a onsight with Crimptonite, in Oliana.
Víctima Perfecta, a link-up connecting Victimes del Passat (5.14c) into Gancho Perfecto (5.14d/15a), was established by Spanish phenom (and notorious sandbagger) Ramón Julián Puigblanqué, who initially graded it 5.14c. Subsequent ascensionists Jorge Díaz-Rullo and Tom Bolger, however, have suggested 5.15a, and it would not be the first time one of Julián’s routes have seen a double upgrade; he suggested La Bongada, also in Margalef, was 5.14b, and several climbers later graded it 5.14d (it seems to have settled at c/d). Likewise, in 2021 Alex Megos repeated Mejorando Imagen, another FAd by Julián, and Megos recommended an upgrade from 14d to 5.15b; Díaz-Rullo seconded the decision.
Kiersch, who made the fourth ascent of Víctima Perfecta, noted that it felt comparatively harder than La Rambla—which she sent in February 2023—and it took her more attempts (about 20 total, as compared to about 10-15). With over 30 ascents, La Rambla is the most repeated 5.15a in the world, and many armchair enthusiasts have wondered if it’s just soft for the grade. Kiersch countered that she’s never heard climbers who’ve actually sent it make this remark. “It is, however, a relatively straightforward route that requires climbers to recover well,” she says. “But Víctima Perfecta is pure power-endurance.” It’s sustained, culminating in a V6 move before the chains. Kiersch fell on the last move repeatedly before finally sticking it after. The route was a battle with self-doubt, she says.
Kiersch has now been in Spain for five weeks. She’s hoping to tick another 5.15a, Joe Mama, in Oliana, before leaving this coming weekend. Should Kiersch send one more 5.15, she will rank alongside Margo Hayes as America’s most accomplished female sport climbers to date. By our reckoning, she is the only woman ever to have sent both a confirmed 5.15a and V14 (in 2022 she sent Hailstorm in Ogden, Utah, and New Baseline and Tigris Sit, both in Magic Wood).
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