Madame Ching 9b FA by Angy Eiter

Angy Eiter, four times World Champion, has done the FA of the 50 meters and very steep Madame Ching near her home in Tyrolean Oberland, after two months pf projecting. The 154 cm tall compares the difficulty with La Planta de Shiva a 9b she did in 2017. "This route is a present from my husband Bernie that he put up in 2018. He handed the route to me and I started trying it. I found the sequences very hard and thought it’s maybe not possible for me. In May 2020 after the first lockdown, I made a virtue out of necessity and started projecting. My first steps on it were quite humbling. I failed many times and was really at a loss sometimes but performance and more efficient tweaks in my method paid off. I could tackle some sequences and simultaneously needed less rope-hanging rests in between... until the whole route was done, finally. I couldn’t believe it. This was the moment where all the hard work finally paid off! Thanks to all the yelling crew!! 🤘🏻😍 • Great experience trying something completely without traces, being the first working out a beta, holds frequently broke. Please keep in mind of the grade: I am the first, can just rely on my beta, I am much shorter than an average climber, was wrong several times in the past. •"

Video and more comments here. (c) Raphael Pöham / Red Bull ASP

Combining her outstanding competition track record with doing eight routes 9a and harder, including two 9b's, Angy is by far the best female climber out there. When she won the World Champion title in 2007 in a super final on the male route, with some extra holds in the start adjusting for the height difference, she made it further than one of the males. The route setter Francois Legrand said he believed that Angy often could make it to the Top-8 final if they had taken her length into consideration on the less steep sections.