{"id":5978,"date":"2024-12-10T00:33:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T23:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/?post_type=relatos&#038;p=5978"},"modified":"2025-12-16T00:36:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T23:36:36","slug":"the-legacy-of-la-rambla","status":"publish","type":"relatos","link":"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/relatos\/the-legacy-of-la-rambla\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legacy of La Rambla"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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&nbsp;<em>La Rambla<\/em>&nbsp;(9a+), the world\u2019s second of the grade, can easily be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSiurana was already considered one of the best climbing areas in the world long before La Rambla\u2019s first ascent because of the quality of the rock, the routes, the surroundings, etc,\u201d said Catalan climber Ramon \u201cRamonet\u201d Julian Puigbanque. However, the first ascent of La Rambla solidified Siurana\u2019s status as a destination for hard climbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\u00a9adrimartinez__DSC1448-682x1024-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5981\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\u00a9adrimartinez__DSC1448-682x1024-1.jpg 682w, https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\u00a9adrimartinez__DSC1448-682x1024-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\u00a9adrimartinez__DSC1448-682x1024-1-600x901.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s steepest section. When he broke a hold near the top of the route, he lowered the anchor, establishing&nbsp;<em>Broadway<\/em>&nbsp;(8c+). Three years later, Dani Andrada repeated Huber\u2019s route and began working a 6 meter extension, nearly completing&nbsp;<em>La Rambla<\/em>&nbsp;(9a+), the line to the top of the wall. However, Ramonet began tying in at the base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBeing able to share attempts with Dani, who had been an idol for me since I started climbing, made me even more eager,\u201d said Ramonet. He had only climbed one other route of the 9th grade but he wanted to push his climbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3-682x1024-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5982\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3-682x1024-1.jpg 682w, https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3-682x1024-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3-682x1024-1-600x901.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor me, it was a huge personal challenge to climb one of the potentially hardest routes in the world at that time,\u201d Ramonet said. After 40 attempts, he fought through the hard crimps to make the first ascent of the route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2-682x1024-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5983\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2-682x1024-1.jpg 682w, https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2-682x1024-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2-682x1024-1-600x901.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt 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,\u201d said Ramonet. \u201cObviously, this led me to repeat difficult routes and projects with grades confirmed by more climbers.\u201d 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\u00a0<em>Mejorando Imagen<\/em>\u00a0(9b) in Margalef Spain,\u00a0<em>Realization<\/em>\u00a0(9a+) in Ceuse, and the first ascent of\u00a0<em>Estado Critico<\/em>\u00a0(9a) in Siurana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4-Large-682x1024-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5984\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4-Large-682x1024-1.jpeg 682w, https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4-Large-682x1024-1-200x300.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4-Large-682x1024-1-600x901.jpeg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The route pushed Ramonet\u2019s and the world\u2019s 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. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream to climb if you are a serious difficulty enthusiast,\u201d said Ramonet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5980,"template":"","class_list":["post-5978","relatos","type-relatos","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/relatos\/5978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/relatos"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/relatos"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/relatos\/5978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrlandon.com\/tenaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}