Climbing
5 things Angy Eiter said about La Planta de Shiva
Austrian climber Angela Eiter recently made history by becoming the first woman to successfully free climb the 9b route in Villanueva del Rosario, Spain. This is what she made of her own achievement.
Considered one of the best female competition climbers of all time, with a string of world titles to her name, especially in Lead, Angela 'Angy' Eiter has now made her mark in the free climbing world by becoming the first woman to successfully tackle and complete a 9b climbing route, a feat the 31-year-old achieved on October 22, 2017 on the 'La Planta de Shiva' route in Villanueva del Rosario, Spain.
The ascent puts her alongside legends Adam Ondra and Chris Sharma – the only climbers who have ever climbed a harder-rated route.
Watch the video in the below player to see Angy in action and then scroll beyond to see what she said about that record-breaking climb.
2 min
Angela Eiter breaks new ground in women's climbing
The action-packed story behind Angela Eiter's record-breaking 9b climb on La Planta de Shiva in Spain in October 2017.
1. She didn't think she'd succeed
“Truth be told, I didn’t think I had a chance at all. If I’m really honest with myself, I had to admit I stopped believing it was possible. I knew if I was going to succeed I’d have to do everything 100 percent right and give it absolutely everything I had.”
When I saw all the messages on social media, I really realised what a thing I'd done
2. When she broke the record, it didn't really sink in
"When I clipped in the anchor I didn't really realise that I'd completed such a milestone [achievement]. But after, when I saw all the messages on social media, I really realised what a thing I'd done for the global climbing community."
La Planta suited Angela's style of climbing
© Javier Pérez López-Triviño/ASP/Red Bull Content Pool
3. She nearly gave up before she started
"In the two years I was working on the [La Planta] project, I was confronted with injuries. First, I injured my ring finger. That took me away from climbing for several months, and then I ripped a tendon on my hamstring. This also needed time to heal. I was at a point where I said I can't do this route any more because I didn't want to do it for any price."
Actually, I almost fell off with the last move
4. The climb nearly went wrong at the final reaches
“Up there on the last moves, I was right at the very limit. Actually, I almost fell off with the last move. So it was incredible.”
Beauty in the climb but difficulty also
© Javier Pérez López-Triviño/ASP/Red Bull Content Pool
5. She went to extraordinary lengths to prepare for the climb
"I knew that I had to do everything right to be successful on the route. So I created a replica of the holds and movements of La Planta in my own training gym in Imst, Austria, to train at the same intensity."
