La Rambla (climb)

La Rambla, also referred to as La Rambla Extension, La Rambla Direct or La Rambla Original is a famously difficult long route located at the El Pati crag in Siurana, Catalonia (Spain), originally bolted by Alexander Huber and later extended by Dani Andrada.
A previous version of this route, bolted by Huber, was shorter than the current one. Huber first climbed it in 1994 and called it "La Rambla". Later, Dani Andrada extended the route to reach a higher anchor. Namely, the anchor of a nearby route called "La Reina Mora". Andrada's project, initially referred to as "La Rambla Extension", was first climbed in 2003 by Ramón Julián Puigblanque, after more than forty failed attempts. Since then, all repetitions were made on the extended route and Huber's intermediate anchor was eventually removed. That is why the name "La Rambla", which initially referred to Huber's shorter route, is nowadays widely used to indicate the extended route as well.
In 1994, Huber graded his route . However, he actually meant that it was about as difficult as Wolfgang Güllich's "Action Directe", which at that time was considered to be 8c+/9a and was later upgraded to .
Puigblanque climbed Huber's route four or five times and upgraded it to , then he managed to redpoint the extended route as well. The additional six meters needed to reach the higher anchor slightly increased the difficulty of the ascent. About half a grade harder plus than it was, according to Adam Ondra, the fifth climber who repeated the route, in 2008.
Huber's abandoned original project.
The final version of Huber's route was long. However, he originally wanted to reach a higher anchor. Namely, the anchor of a nearby route called "La Reina Mora", also bolted by him. He gave up after breaking a hold, and set an intermediate anchor 6 meters lower.
After Huber's ascent, Dani Andrada linked the route to the last section of "La Reina Mora" in order to reach Huber's original anchor, 6 meters higher. He achieved his goal by bolting a short traverse to the right, starting from the last hold of Huber's route, a 3-finger pocket just below the intermediate anchor. The extended route is long, and is known as "La Rambla Extension" or "La Rambla Direct", as opposed to Huber's "La Rambla".
Since Andrada just intended to restore, as much as possible, Huber's original project, his extended route is sometimes also called, quite misleadingly, "La Rambla Original". An ambiguous name which should be probably avoided, because Huber's abandoned project is unknown to most people.
Ratings.
Puigblanque rated both La Rambla and La Rambla Extension . La Rambla Extension was harder, but not hard enough to justify a higher grade. According to Puigblanque, the crux is in Huber's route, then there's a rest (about 5 meters below Huber's intermediate anchor), and "the last 35 feet [up to and past Huber's anchor] could be graded between and ". The extended route was later repeated by many others, who confirmed Puigblanque's rating.
La Rambla.
Huber strongly maintained that his 35 meter version of La Rambla was . In his opinion, the route "is not harder than" Wolfgang Güllich's "Action Directe", the world's first 9a, while others disagree with him and argue that it merits a harder grade. This is the reason why Huber's version of La Rambla is not considered to be world's first 9a+ route, although it was climbed in 1994, two years earlier than "Open Air", which is now widely considered the world's first 9a+ route (see Notable first free ascents).
La Rambla Extension.
There are two possible ways to climb the additional 6 meters of La Rambla Extension. Immediately after Andrada's traverse, you can either decide to climb directly upwards to the higher anchor, or you can traverse about one meter farther, and grab a very large hold ("jug") which allows you to rest as much as needed to complete the climb. Most repeaters used the jug, but Puigblanque and Adam Ondra decided not to use it, as they wanted to stay as close as possible to the line of Huber's original project. However, they were perfectly aware that their choice was just a matter of preference. Taking that rest is by all means legitimate, as it is close to one of Andrada's bolts.
Because of that rest, climbing the last 6 meters of La Rambla Extension becomes significantly easier. So much easier that Huber maintains this section of the route is "irrelevant", compared to the rest of the route, which suggests that from his perspective, La Rambla Extension could be just another , the same grade as La Rambla.
However, importantly, Huber did not climb La Rambla Extension, and the climbers who actually have climbed it support a consensus grade off 9a+, harder than La Rambla. According to Adam Ondra, it is about half a grade harder, "if you use the jug for rest". This implies that either La Rambla is a 9a and Rambla Extension is a low end 9a+, or La Rambla is a low end 9a+, and La Rambla extension is just a harder 9a+. After Margo Hayes completed the first female ascent in 2017, attempts were made to claim it at a lower grade.
Repetitions.
The repeat ascents were by:
See also.
Notable first free ascents