Michaela Kiersch FA’s up to 8B in Morocco

Michaela Kiersch has visited Oukaimeden in Morocco together with Ashima Shiraishi with a focus on exploring and putting up first ascents. The Doctor in Hand Therapy has built an extraordinary résumé: 20 routes graded 8c+ to 9a+ and some 20 boulders 8B to 8C. Remarkably, almost all of the 31-year-old climber’s hardest ascents have come within the last five years.

Can you tell us more about the trip and the most memborable ascents?
I spent 10 days in Morocco with my friend Ashima. She had a project from a previous trip and I was motivated to put up some first ascents. I ended up adding a lower start to her project, an existing 8A+, and calling it Taradine (8B), which translates to “girls.” It was fitting because we got the first and second ascents. I also added 4 highballs to the area — Atlas 8A, a stand alone beautiful orange and black line; and then 3 lines to a different boulder Aphrodite 7A, Artemis 7B, and Athena 7C. The Atlas Mountains were named for the titan who held up the sky, and I decided to honor a few of my favorite goddesses as well.