La Rambla 9a+ by Jon Cardwell

Jon Cardwell comes with the great news on his Instagram that he has done La Rambla 9a+ in Siurana. This year it took ten tries but the process started last year. Previously he has done some 10 - 15 routes graded 9a, the first one in 2008. (c) Greg Mionske Congrats! So what made the send in the end? Thank you! Not really sure exactly what made things work, except that I was just really excited to climb again in Spain after suffering from a bad finger injury last July. I worked patiently all late summer and into the fall/winter to rehab my finger and strength appropriately without risking re-injury. When I arrived in Spain, I felt refreshed and more motivated than ever to just enjoy the climbing with good friends. Also, I worked the route for a couple weeks last year when Matty and Margo climbed it, so I began this trip knowing all the beta quite well. This was the ascent #22 in total of Ramon Julian Puigblanque's classical route from 2003 which makes it the most popular 9a+ in the world. In 1994, Alex Huber made it to a first anchor calling it 8c+ but with the today grade standards, his version is considered 9a.