Doug McConnell, 43, climbs La Gionconda (9a)

Doug McConnell, who sent his first two 9a’s last year at age 42, has completed the 9a extension of La gioconda (8c) in Rodellar. ”Amazing! It doesn’t get any better than this. Gracias Primo. He said it well “40 meters of pure style”. I tried the parts of this across 4 years - each year a bit better in some weird, intangible way…this year was a surprise to feel good on it almost immediately and get it done on my 8th day this year. To have the opportunity, with decent conditions in June after I’d given it away for the season, was a treat.”

Can you tell us more about the route and how much work is behind the ascent?
La Gioconda is an amazing 40m roof bolted by “Primo” Palao in 2019. It’s an unusual style as it’s both very technical and very physical, the last 4 bolts of climbing are steeper than horizontal - you’re climbing down to the lip of the cave! The final crux involves a lot of core tension after you’ve already spent 30 minutes in the roof. The route is comprised of 2x 8c-ish pitches separated by an awkward rest. I found the second pitch much more difficult than the first, and linking it from an alternative start last year (Codigo de la Gioconda) was really taxing for me. Initially it was hard for me to even get between the bolts. The difficulty and complexity of the route was inspiring.

I spent something like 25 days on La Gioconda between 2022 and 2024 doing two parts, mostly with my friend Amos, whose help was invaluable as the route is so beta intensive. It was pleasing to only need another 8 days this year to put it all together. I was meticulous about keeping notes and videos of my beta so that each year I could add to my knowledge from the previous.

This spring being so wet in Catalunya gave me a good opportunity to train to address the physicality required in that roof. I’m not sure if that was the difference or whether just another year of steep cave climbing behind me would have been enough regardless. I was also more focussed this year, just on La Gioconda, and allowed myself shorter sessions being fresher for each.

I can’t express enough how good this route is. In fact, the climbing in el Museo sector is some of the best I’ve done anywhere, and it has a high concentration of really high quality, hard routes. I don’t really understand why it’s never busy.