Paige Claassen has made the fourth ascent, and first female ascent, of Giuliano Cameroni's Legacy (9a)/V14, in  Rocklands, South Africa.

Originally found by Dave Graham, the line was later bolted for Fred Nicole and closed off for more than five years while Nicole tried it. In 2019, he gave Cameroni permission to try the route, and, after three days of working it, Cameroni made the first ascent. Nicole went on to make the second ascent just two days later.

Legacy consists of a hard six move boulder up to the second bolt, before it transitions into sustained French 7c climbing. Whilst Graham originally envisioned the line as a highball boulder, it is yet to be climbed without a rope, mainly because of the terrible landing and the fragility of the final few holds, where a fall would almost certainly mean serious injury.

Despite having only ever been climbed using a rope, the route is so short that both Cameroni and Paul Robinson - who made the third ascent - felt it was appropriate to give the 9a route a boulder grade of V14 as well.

Claassen spent three days working the route on a mini-traxion device, before making the ascent on the fourth day after having warmed up on belay.

Her ascent, which comes just over a year after giving birth, is her fourth at 9a, which is the most 9a ascents by any female climber outside of those to have climbed 9a+.

Sharing the news on instagram after the ascent, Claassen said:

'Three mornings of mini traxing + one day with a belay from Arjan. Despite the insecure razor crimps, I had quite a pleasant experience on this line, with some peaceful hours spent sussing through beta details alone while the birds chirped'.

'It's thin, it's hard, and I'm not sure if it's a boulder or a route. Three very hard moves off the deck lead to 12d climbing. Either way, nice to apply myself to something that I wasn't sure I'd have the strength for when I arrived'.

If thought of as a V14 boulder rather than a 9a route, the ascent makes Claassen just the fifth woman to have climbed both a 9a route and an 8B+ boulder.