Teen climber Margo Hayes is first woman to conquer La Rambla

Andrea James 7:05 am Wed Mar 1, 2017

La Rambla is one of the world's most challenging sport climbs, and 19-year-old Margo Hayes made it while on a study break from school.

Hayes, who hails from Boulder, Colorado, was able to make a climb that fewer than 20 climbers have officially completed since the first send by Alexander Huber in 1994. Via Hayden Carpenter in Rock and Ice:

Hayes was climbing in Spain for only 10 days during a break from school (she is studying abroad in France this year), and she went right after La Rambla. “I think once she did the moves and started making big links, it flipped a switch, and she didn’t look back,” Jon Cardwell, who has been projecting the route with Hayes, Matty Hong and Greg Mionske, writes Rock and Ice in an e-mail.

According to Eddie Fowke of The Circuit Climbing, Hayes, who had come close to sending on February 25, pushed back her return flight to France to have a few more days on the climb. She only needed one.

Here's a video of Chris Sharma on the 5.15a route, with some camera work that gives a sense of how insanely difficult this is:

Congratulations to Margo!

• Margo Hayes Climbs La Rambla, Becomes First Woman to Send 5.15a (Climbing via Rock and Ice)

Image: Instagram / Margo Hayes

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