The Legacy of La Rambla

Driving to the world famous limestone crag of Siurana, in the heart of Catalunya, the El Pati Wall towers above the historic climbing area. In the middle of the limestone wall, the global testpiece La Rambla (9a+), the world’s second of the grade, can easily be seen.

“Siurana was already considered one of the best climbing areas in the world long before La Rambla’s first ascent because of the quality of the rock, the routes, the surroundings, etc,” said Catalan climber Ramon “Ramonet” Julian Puigbanque. However, the first ascent of La Rambla solidified Siurana’s status as a destination for hard climbing.

The route, which begins on an 8a+ crack, follows hard crimping to a show stopping bulge and an anchor at 40 meters. In 1993, German climber Alex Huber bolted and climbed the line nearly through the grey rock’s steepest section. When he broke a hold near the top of the route, he lowered the anchor, establishing Broadway (8c+). Three years later, Dani Andrada repeated Huber’s route and began working a 6 meter extension, nearly completing La Rambla (9a+), the line to the top of the wall. However, Ramonet began tying in at the base.

“Being able to share attempts with Dani, who had been an idol for me since I started climbing, made me even more eager,” said Ramonet. He had only climbed one other route of the 9th grade but he wanted to push his climbing.

“For me, it was a huge personal challenge to climb one of the potentially hardest routes in the world at that time,” Ramonet said. After 40 attempts, he fought through the hard crimps to make the first ascent of the route.

“It helped me gain international recognition as a climber since it was a route that many strong climbers around the world had tried, and no one had been able to complete,” said Ramonet. “Obviously, this led me to repeat difficult routes and projects with grades confirmed by more climbers.” His momentum from La allowed him to dominate the World Cup Circuit for 15 years, winning multiples golds. He went on to redpoint over two dozen 9th grade routes including Mejorando Imagen (9b) in Margalef Spain, Realization (9a+) in Ceuse, and the first ascent of Estado Critico (9a) in Siurana.

The route pushed Ramonet’s and the world’s standard for hard climbing, being one of the most repeated 9a+ routes because of its history and location in the climbing mecca of Siurana. Twenty years later, the El Pati wall route remains a site of historic ascents with Margo Hayes being the first woman to climb 9a+ with her send in 2016. It remains a testpeiece for many climbers. “It’s a dream to climb if you are a serious difficulty enthusiast,” said Ramonet