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On January 28, Michaela Kiersch felt ready. The weather was good and her skin was intact. She tied in and hopped on La Rambla, a 5.15a in Siurana, Spain. Kiersch climbed through the bottom crux—a section that had previously given her trouble—and seemingly cruised to the final top section; things were looking promising. But when her heel popped off on the final move of the sequence, she was devastated. She spent the night ruminating over the route, the moves, her doubt, and the weight of sending.
The next day, Kiersch faced a dilemma: Her skin now had holes in it, and she was no longer as fresh, but the following day promised worse weather. In the end, she decided to give the route another go, so she warmed up in the gym in town before heading up.
“I felt amazing, like really good,” she told Climbing over the phone. “Instead of feeling anxious or nervous, I was just excited to try the route, which was a shift in my energy. I was getting butterflies thinking about it, which was different from the day before, where I just felt a lot of anxiety and nerves. Then we walked up and I tied in, and it was super sunny. I felt very calm. I did every move exactly the way I wanted to and went to the top. It was a huge relief and a joy. It was just a good experience.”
In sending, Kiersch became the second American woman, after Margo Hayes in 2017, to climb the grade. (In 2015, at the wee age of 13, Ashima Shiraishi sent Open Your Mind Direct, which holds the contested 5.14d/5.15a grade.)
La Rambla was established by Alexander Huber in the 1990s and was later extended by the Dani Andrada. The full line was FA’ed by Ramón Julián Puigblanque in 2003. Adam Ondra once said that the 135-foot test piece consists of a 5.14b into a rest into a V9. Margo Hayes made the first female ascent of the line in 2017, and South Korea’s Chaehyun Seo made the second in November 2022. According to the record kept by 99boulders.com (and adding in 2023 data), La Rambla has now seen 30 ascents, making it the most ticked 5.15a in the world.
Kiersch’s ascent should come at no surprise. In June 2022, during a trip to Switzerland, she sent two V14’s (her second and third of the grade) and 14 other double-digit boulders. In September, 2021, Kiersch, alongside Paige Claassen, made the first female ascent of the iconic Dreamcatcher (5.14d), in Squamish, British Columbia. It was a first of the grade for her, although prior to it she had sent a total of nine 5.14c’s, including Necessary Evil, at the Virgin River Gorge, Arizona, and Lucifer and Golden Ticket, both at the Red River Gorge, Kentucky. Even more impressive: She did much of this top level climbing while a full-time grad student; last April, she graduated from Rush University Medical Center with a doctorate in occupational therapy. On top of all that, by our reckoning, Kiersch is the first woman ever to have sent both a confirmed 5.15a and V14.
We caught up with Kiersch to hear more about her La Rambla ascent, her training, her mental approach to climbing hard routes, and more. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Climbing: So, how does it feel to have just become only the second American woman to send 5.15?
Kiersch: It feels really cool. And not just being the second [American] woman to send 5.15, but just as a personal accomplishment—I just wanted to see if it was possible for me, and that was my main motivation. And it’s really cool to realize this dream that I didn’t even know was attainable.
Climbing: I imagine it’s a dream that you’ve had your whole climbing career. Is that true?
Kiersch: Yes, and no. I always fantasized about sending 15a, but it wasn’t really-truly a dream, or I guess a goal, until the more recent years, when I realized that it could be feasible for me. It was always something that, growing up, just seemed out of reach.
Climbing: When did you set your sights on La Rambla?
Kiersch: I had a lot of different ideas for trips after finishing grad school. And a lot of it came down to timing—with the seasons and the locations. And this January-February block was a really good time for me to try to send something hard. Siurana is in season right now, and La Rambla is a route that has always inspired me. It’s also a 5.15 that has a lot of video and photo content out there, so it seems more attainable because you’re more familiar with it before you ever go and try. … So it was cool imagining what it would be like, watching videos, talking to people, and then getting to come and see for myself.
Climbing: What were your first couple of sessions on it like?
Kiersch: I did all of the moves on the first day, which was pretty cool. That made me feel really optimistic. I was definitely a bit nervous, because some of the moves felt really challenging and kind of at my limit, and I was nervous about being able to do them from the ground. But it gave me a lot of confidence to have done them all on the first try—I didn’t anticipate that. And then during the next couple of sessions, I was just trying to link sequences together, working on five to 10 moves at a time and really trying to refine my beta. That went on for the next five sessions. And then we got hit with some really unfortunate weather. It rained a couple days, and then it got really cold for a couple days. So for about like a week, a little over a week, I couldn’t really climb on it. And then, I came back to it and was making really good links—doing it into two parts or three parts. And then it just sort of went from there.
Climbing: So how many sessions did it take you total?
Kiersch: I don’t know exactly, but somewhere between like 10 and 15. I want to say about 12 but I don’t know for sure. … I flew into Barcelona January 7, and then I got to Cornudella on the 8th.
Climbing: How did your process on it compare to that of other routes you’ve done, such as Dreamcatcher?
Kiersch: I had a lot more self-doubt going into this project. Partially because of the grade and uncertainty surrounding my ability, but also because the crux is up high but I really struggled on a sequence much lower. I was feeling like, if I’m not even getting up to the crux, and I’m not falling at the crux, it’s gonna be really hard to send the route. There’s this bigger move down low—it’s where Margo does a heel hook, and the hold has since broken, and so I have to do that sequence the jump way. I fell there like five tries in a row. But once I stuck it, I took it straight up to the top crux. And I only fell at the top crux twice. So for me, the hardest sequence was a third of the way up instead of the normal crux up high. And that led to a lot of uncertainty.
Climbing: How did you deal with that throughout the process?
Kiersch: I mean, it was really stressful. It was a lot of visualization, rehearsing the moves, and trying to stay positive and showing myself that I can get stronger while I’m here on this route. And then ultimately, I did make a really minor tweak to my beta for how I set up for the jump move. As soon as I did that, I was able to stick it more consistently.
Climbing: Can you break down the route into sections?
Kiersch: Yeah, the first section of the route is the crack, and there’s a really tricky sequence in the middle of it; [that] single move is maybe V6 or V7, but it’s very taxing. And then you get a jug rest [before entering] the traverse to the left, which is my favorite part of the route—it’s really powerful, technical, and sustained climbing on crimps. So you traverse left and then that section culminates in two jumps in a row. First, you jump with your left hand to the first ledge, and then you jump with your right hand to the second ledge. And that’s the second section. The third section is just resistance climbing from the ledge to the crux. You get another rest that’s a little bit uncomfortable, and not super restful, then you climb this 8-move crux boulder, where all of the moves are equally difficult—you could fall on any one of them. And then from there, you have a slab crux to the anchor; it’s really slippery, slow climbing and definitely was a mental challenge for me after doing the crux. I did not want to fall on the slab; it would have been devastating.
Climbing: What goes through your head in moments like that?
Kiersch: It was challenging for me because I could shake out on these holds before this slab for a really long time, even though I wasn’t pumped. And every time I felt like I was going to go, I would retreat and think “No, no, I’m not ready!” I tried to visualize myself doing the sequence and to tell myself I could do it. And then I would accidentally imagine what it would be like if I fell and then I would have to start over and try to be positive, because I didn’t want to put that energy into the attempt. So it was a lot of positive self-talk and pumping myself up to do the last little section.
Climbing: Is positive self-talk a skill that you’ve learned over time, or was there a specific moment in your climbing career where you really learned the value of it?
Kiersch: When I was younger, I used to sort of black out while I was climbing. I wouldn’t always remember where I fell, or what I was thinking about, or what happened. And that started to result in me making really unfortunate mistakes, like messing up the sequence or popping a foot. So I started to make more of a conscious effort to be present on every attempt, and to really check in with myself and remain focused. I think through that, I developed this positive self-talk. Also, just trying routes closer to my limit demanded that I develop that skill. The mental power is just as important as the physical power. And I learned that I needed to strengthen that.
Climbing: Do you have a way of strengthening it outside of climbing?
Kiersch: I think in different ways, I apply a similar skill set in other areas of my life. In school, you have to be really focused, diligent, and determined to get through it all, whether it’s to get through an exam or get good grades. I think being in school for as long as I was helped me in that regard. And just in general, I’m a pretty ambitious and driven person—I like to be successful in all my endeavors. So just applying that methodology in all areas of my life has given me a lot of experience and helped me to get better.
Climbing: You’ve become such a diverse climber. I’m curious what you see to be your biggest weaknesses, and how are you working on them?
Kiersch: My biggest weaknesses are still big power moves, with holds that are far apart with low feet. It’s something that I work on pretty extensively in my training. I do that by doing a lot of limit bouldering, especially on the MoonBoard and the Kilter Board. I do a lot of campusing. I think I’ve really seen an increase in just my pure power and strength through doing that, and my ability to jump between holds, and stay high on my shoulders instead of being low and weak. Sticking moves with authority. I’ve seen all that improve in my bouldering, but [it’s helped] my sport climbing as well. It really helped me on this route, where so many of the sequences were powerful.
Climbing: Last time we spoke, you said your week-to-week training sessions varied a lot because of school. Has it become more consistent since you graduated?
Kiersch: Yeah, it’s definitely become more consistent, especially leading up to a big trip like this one. I made myself a training plan, and I stuck to it pretty diligently. I cycled through a few different sets of workouts. It was pretty consistent and standardized. And I do work, I have a PRN job, which means I work as needed—it’s contract work. On my rest days, I go and work at the hospital part time. So climbing isn’t the only thing that I have going on. But I definitely am prioritizing it at this time.
Climbing: I would love to know some of the workouts that you were cycling through.
Kiersch: I was doing limit bouldering. I had a list of boulders on the MoonBoard and a list of boulders on the Kilter Board that I wanted to be able to send before leaving for this trip. And, magically, on my last day of training, I made it through my final four MoonBoard boulders, which was a huge confidence boost, and pretty exciting. And I was also doing circuits on the MoonBoard—50 move circuits at anywhere between 40 and 50 degrees. And I was doing hangboard workouts and some campusing. But I can’t reveal all my secrets.
Climbing: How often do you climb outside versus hit the gym?
Kiersch: Leading up to this trip, I was in a gym 95% of the time. It’s winter, it was cold, but I also wanted to be really focused. And obviously, I’ve spent the last month here outside. So I think it really just depends on the time of year and where I am. When I go home from here, I think I’m going to be about 50/50, because I’m not quite mentally ready to launch into another training cycle, and there are some projects around Salt Lake City that I’d like to try as the weather warms up.
Climbing: How do you feel your job feeds into your climbing? Or does it?
Kiersch: I think that my job helps me be a better climber just by giving me a completely separate space—an entirely different world that’s unrelated and that challenges me in other ways. … When climbing is the only thing in my life, it loses a lot of the joy. For me, it becomes more intense, there’s more pressure.
Climbing: Over your years of balancing career goals with climbing, what has been the biggest lesson that you’ve learned?
Kiersch: I think for me, it’s been important to remember that I can’t have all of my buckets full at once. You have to prioritize different areas of your life at different times. It wasn’t always the time for me to focus on climbing. School was my priority, and climbing was in the backseat. Now that I’m finished with school, I can really give myself space to explore my potential in the sport. And I think there was a lot of learning to be patient with myself and remembering that the time for climbing would come. And it did, and it’s really paid off so far.