Last Sunday, the Austrian athlete Angela Eiter wrote climbing history: She was the first woman to manage the redpoint ascent of an 9b route (LACRUX reported). She has climbed La Planta de Shiva in the Spanish sport climbing area Villanueva del Rosario. In an interview with LACRUX, Angy reveals why she decided on this route and how long it took La Planta de Shiva has projected.
Since last Sunday Angela has not only been overwhelmed by media inquiries, but also by compliments from the international climbing elite, including Adam Ondra: “I think that only a few years ago, people would think that a girl climbing 9b is a joke. Now it is reality. Thanks Angy for inspiring all of us. This is something so radical in historical context that might only be compared with Lynn Hill freecliming The Nose. "Chris Sharma is also not stingy with praise and says:" Congrats Angy, you're amazing! So inspiring to see the bar continue to rise. "
Border shifts continuously
Not for the first time this year, a woman is causing euphoria in the climbing community. At the beginning of the year, the American Margo Hayes was the first woman to climb a 9a +. In September the Belgian Anak Verhoeven announced that she had climbed a 9a + for the first time. Both times everyone cheered - and rightly so. What is exciting about the development is the fact that the gap between men and women is increasingly narrowing.
Angela Eiter in an interview with LACRUX
Why did you choose this route?
After the inspections "Hades, 9a" in Nassereith / Imst I was seized by the desire to tackle an even heavier project. I was not looking at a route in grade 9b. The opportunity occurred spontaneously. In October 2015 I started for the first time in the "Planta de Shiva" to climb the first length in the degree 8c. At the stand I have the bars of the connection length in the eye. My husband Bernie encouraged me to boulder. Two attempts were enough to understand that the line fascinated me with its beauty and its enormous claim and fits perfectly with my climbing style.
Since when do you plan this route and how much time did you have to invest?
As mentioned, I first requested the line in October 2015. In January 2016 then Jakob Schubert cracked the line and described his ascent as his hardest route to date with a fight of his life. This statement intimidated me and I thought about ending the matter. However, I could not let go and decided to try only the second length because this part line is hard enough. I do not know how hard, but harder than anything I have tried so far. I divided my trips into several phases and flew seven times either to Andalusia for a week or two weeks. I purposefully trained the rest of my home, where I built similarly heavy trains. So I managed to reconcile my project with my professional activities.
What's your next project? Silence in Flatanger? 🙂
I hope I find another route that fascinates me as much as this one. Ideally not in this difficulty anymore.
Credits: picture M. Kwiatkowski