UPDATED: 9/20/11 – After being in Spain for about three weeks, Sasha DiGiulian has accumulated quite the ticklist (perhaps record breaking?). Many of her ascents have been onsight or second-try. Today and yesterday, she climbed Aitzol (5.14b) and Flash Over (5.14a) both second-try in Margalef. Last week, she onsighted Just Married and Highway 42 (both 5.13d) in Bielsa.

Her list also includes two more 5.14a’s—Ixeia (second try) and Geminis—Les Chacals (5.13d) on her second try, a flash of Florida L 1 (5.13c), Lola (5.13c), and La Mujer, Los Niños, y el V Degree (5.13c, second try).

So far in Spain, she’s sent one 5.14c, one 5.14b, four 5.14a’s, four 5.13d’s, and four 5.13c’s. Whew.

See her blog for more details.

UPDATED: 9/7/11 – Sasha DiGiulian had an even more productive time today in Spain. She onsighted Maskoking (5.14a)—even though a foothold broke at the top—Eclipse Cerebral (5.13d), and True Crime (5.13b). "Climbing is FUN!" she said. "The psych continues!" This could be her most impressive day of climbing outside so far.

9/6/11 – Sasha DiGiulian had a productive Labor Day weekend in Rodellar, Spain, where she climbed Cosi Fan Tutte (5.14c), at the La Piscineta sector. This is the 18-year-old’s third climb of the grade; she climbed Lucifer and Southern Smoke at the Red River Gorge back in March. She needed only four attempts to redpoint Cosi.

Cosi was the "most beautiful climb I’ve ever been on," she said on her blog. The 180-foot climb starts as 5.13c—which she onsighted—and follows a steep wall on a black tufa. Then comes the first crux, which DiGiulian says was the most difficult part of the route. "It involves a burly move from an undercling to a weirdly shaped pocket-crimp, then you hold your core tension to grab a sloped ball-type hold, move your feet so that your body is positioned well, and stab out to a crimpy undercling," she said. Cosi then climbs through several boulder problems with a good rest, followed by the next crux, where "I make my way up some crimpers, reach up into a sloped small undercling, move my feet up, and make a powerful move into a good pinch," she said.

After the second crux, the line moves into several big moves on good holds, then turns a lip onto a slab that you "pull over and almost mantel up on top of, and stand up to the finish jug that you happily clip the anchors from," DiGiulian said.

She found it crucial to climb Cosi Fan Tutte quickly and smoothly with precise footwork. "You can’t think of the potential of being pumped or falling, and for me, I can’t lose my momentum before the long moves," she said.

DiGiulian plans to spend most of September in Spain. Last weekend, she took third in the Youth World Championships in Imst, Austria.

Date of ascent: September 3, 2011

Source: sasha-digiulian.com/blog