First Ley 9a+ by Dave Graham (39)

Dave Graham reports on Insta that he has done First Ley 9a+ in Margalef. This high class route was put up by Chris Sharma and is an easier left exit to First Round First Minute 9b. (c) Andrew Pawlby

Did you find any new kneebars?
For my beta I only use one new kneebar that Jorge (Diaz-Rullo) found. But I cant really put it in the same way as Jorge so it was helpful but not enough hahaha.

Theres a very key hold that broke off in the crux which makes it definitely harder. It was the horizontal crimp you jumped too in all the famous photos. Its completely gone, now theres just a diagonal slopey edge. So there may be a new kneebar but we are missing a key hold haha!!!

"At the end of the sesh I did the last boulder of FR from the rest to the anchor feeling solid, so now I’m super motivated to go back give it some proper burns!! Felt great in La Capella and Furia de Jabali the past couple of days, the two other 9b’s I want to do, so finally feeling some momentum behind my climbing after what seems like a lot of months of trying really hard with very little progress 🙌🏻"

In a previous Insta post, the 39-year-old has stated that ten years ago he could not do any of the moves om FRFM. Dave did Action Directe as his first 9a in 2001 and since he has been one of the leading rock climbers in the world. Last year, he did his first-ever 9b, and in total he has done some 25 routes 9a and harder. He has also done some 20 8C boulders.