Bindhammer Redpoints La Rambla (5.15a)
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Andreas Bindhammer pinching for glory on Abysse (9a/5.14d) in southern France.Photo courtesy of www.nice-climb.com.
Germany’s Andreas Bindhammer has repeated La Rambla (9a+/5.15a) at Siurana, Spain, after three weeks of work. The 40-meter endurance route has recently seen a spate of repeats, about four years after its first ascent by Ramón Julián; Edu Marín snagged the second ascent in late November 2006, and Chris Sharma got the redpoint a day later.
Bindhammer, 34, has long been a master of the redpoint. La Rambla is his fourth route graded 9a (5.14d) or harder, and he did his first, Kinematix in Gorges du Loup, France, back in 2001. In late October, the German grabbed the second ascent of Abysse (5.14d), an Alex Chabot route also in Gorges du Loup. Bindhammer broke two footholds on this severely overhanging test of pinch strength and suggested it is now hard for 9a.
Date of Ascent: May 2, 2007
Sources:www.desnivel.es, www.andreas-bindhammer.de, climbing.local.