Iñi Ameriketan, 9a+, for Ainhize Belar
Ainhize Belar has become the first Spanish woman to climb 9a+, with her ascent of Iñi Ameriketan (9a+), at Baltzola, Spain.
Ainhize Belar has climed Begi puntuan (9a), at Etxauri, near Pamplona, Spain.
The limestone route was first climbed by Patxi Usobiaga in 2006, when Belar was not yet a year old. When Belar climbed the route last weekend, she was the first woman to do so in the route's seventeen year history.
Despite having previously climbed multiple 8c routes, in climbing Begi Puntuan, Belar 'skipped' the grade of 8c+ entirely.
Talking to 8a.nu, Belar said:
'I tried the route for the first time two months ago. I have had to find my own methods due to the long moves and it has been difficult to find good conditions, but I enjoy a lot the process'.
'It is a style that I am quite good at (crimps) and I got all the moves the first day, except for the last clip to the chain'.
Initially, as the final clip was 'a very long move', Belar thought that she may be unable to do do it. However, after six weekends on the route, and through 'looking at it well', Belar was able to work out a method through which she was able to clip the chains.
In doing so, Belar became the fifth Spanish woman, and fourty-first woman overall, to have climbed 9a.
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