A 9a without a rope: Noé Looser's masterstroke

While browsing climbing sites this week, I came across a piece of news that blew me away: Swiss climber Noé Looser has sent "L'isola che non c'è", a 9a established in Amden by Fred Nicole in 2009, and she did it without a rope, over pads. It's the first female ascent of the line, and in a style that's getting people talking.

For context: it's a roof roughly fifteen metres long that starts with an 8B+ boulder ("Ragtime"), links into a 7A/B transition and then an 8A exit, before a more relaxed finish. The route had only been repeated about ten times, always on a rope and only by men. Needless to say, Noé, a member of the national team known for ticking 8c at age 13, has pulled off something big.

What I like about this story is that it reignites the old "solo" debate. Climbers like Dave McLeod and Alex Huber had already pushed this kind of thing up to 8c. Here there's no rope but there are pads, the final height is lower than many highballs, and the hard part is down low. So the risk stays fairly measured, a bit like Kevin Jorgensen's repeat of "The Fly".

In short, somewhere between pure performance and the question of commitment, this is exactly the kind of news that gets forums buzzing. What about you: would you call it a true solo, or a glorified highball?

Source: Fanatic Climbing