French climber Nolwen Berthier has climbed her first 9a+ with an ascent of Supercrackinette at Saint Léger, France, joining a small group of women to have climbed the grade.
The 28-year-old's previous hardest were La Ligne Claire (8c+) and La Flute en Chantier (8c+), both in the Verdon Gorge and both 8c+, meaning she skipped the grade of 9a entirely.
Commenting on her ascent, she said:
'I still don't believe it but yesterday was the day! After more than a year of process, I caught this one finger pocket and clipped the chain of my first 9a+ but also my first route in the 9th [grade]! I admit it's quite hard to work today because it feels like living in another reality.'
Margo Hayes was the first woman to climb 9a+ with her ascent of La Rambla in 2017. Berthier is the 9th woman to have climbed 9a+ or harder and only Angie Eiter, Laura Rogora, and Julia Chanourdie have climbed 9b.
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In this week's episode of The Ticklist, we talk about yet another hard ascent from Franco Cookson, Will Bosi's rampage in Adam Ondra's stomping grounds, Nolwen Berthier's ascent of a 9a+, and Mat Wright's first E9.
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