Enzo Oddo has made the seventh ascent of the important route La Rambla 9a+ in Siurana, Spain. Despite a slightly complicated birth the list of the routes repeaters is impressive and the sixteen year old Frenchman is now in good company.

El Pati area, Siurana ©Thomas Charbonneau

In 1994 Alexander Huber made the first ascent of La Rambla at one of Spain’s most impressive sport crags. The route finished shy of the the top of the cliff and was given 8c+. Nine years later Ramón Julián Puigblanque repeated the route and by taking the ‘final’ pocket with the other hand to Huber linked the final seven metres into the chain of an adjacent route.

Despite there being no hard climbing in the extension Ramonet suggested that Huber may have undergraded the route and 9a+ may be more appropriate, where it has settled. La Rambla is now older than Oddo and has been repeated by Puigblanque, Marin, Sharma, Bindhammer, Usobiaga and Ondra.

Enzo Oddo on La Rambla ©Francisco Taranto Jr

The teenager needed around twenty-five attempts to complete the forty-five metre route, getting an early Christmas present on December 22nd. Although this is substantially more than the five that a fifteen year old Ondra needed it should be remembered that many top climbers have tried and failed to tick the route. Dani Andrada, for one, has recently come very close and will return in January.

Having climbed Esclatamasters 9a at Perles less than a month ago, this is now Oddo’s seventh grade 9 route is also his fourth 9a+ (after Biographie, La Moustache qui Fâche and Aubade Direct). Although still only a teenager it is also the hardest redpoint by a French climber outside of France ever. He is in Spain until January 10th, so there is still time for more Catalonian news from the youngster.

Sources
Karin - Trois francais s'illustrent en Catalogne, dont Enzo Oddo qui décroche La Rambla!
Enzo Oddo - Siurana - La Rambla - 9a+