19-year-old Laura Rogora climbs Pure Dreaming Plus, thereby expanding the “Club of 9a + women”. She is only the fifth woman who was able to redpoint a route in this degree.
A few days ago we published the news about Laura's ascent of the 9a route Pure Dreaming in Massone, Italy. It was already the third route in area 9a for Laura in the current year. The Ascent of Pure Dreaming she commented as follows.
It is time to dream of something bigger.
Laura Rogora
Even she would never have thought that it would be so quick until Laura scored an even more difficult route. Only four days after the ascent of Pure Dreaming the young Italian scores the extension of the route by Adam Ondra was started and rated 9a +.
Dozens of additional trains overhang
The extension of Pure Dreaming does not complement the route at the end as usual, but at the beginning. The “plus version” starts around forty moves before the actual start of Pure Dreaming and runs permanently in heavily overhanging terrain. After these forty moves, the actual 9a route begins, which has at least a good resting position in its middle.
Only four women have climbed 9a + so far
The number of women who were able to master a route of this level of difficulty is still very small. The exclusive "club" consists of Margo Hayes (2017) Anak Verhoeven (2017) Angela Eiter (2017) Julia Chanourdie and more recently Laura Rogora (2020). The hardest route a woman has ever climbed is La Planta de Shiva in Villanueva del Rosario, Spain. It was the Austrian Angela Eiter who secured a repetition of the 9b route.
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Credits: Pictures Sara Grippo