Katherine Choong makes first female ascent of historic Ravage, 40 years after being established by Antoine Le Menestrel

Swiss climber Katherine Choong has made the first female ascent of historic Ravage at Chuenisberg in the Basler Jura in Switzerland. Bolted by Wenzel Vodicka and first ascended in 1986 by Antoine Le Menestrel, the route was originally given 8c, making it the hardest in the world at the time and also the first of this grade. Subsequent repeats however suggested the route was slightly easier, in the region of 8b+, meaning that Wallstreet, put up by Wolfgang Güllich in the Frankenjura, would take that accolade a year later. For the record, Adam Ondra made the first and so far only onsight in 2009.

Choong's first female ascent comes a staggering 40 years after the first ascent. She explained "Ravage is a route I had been wanting to climb for years. First, for the legend: it was the first 8c in climbing history, and at the time, considered the hardest route in the world. Even though it was later downgraded to 8b+/c, which I think is fair, even though it still demanded a lot from me, it remains iconic. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the first ascent, achieved in 1986 by Antoine Le Menestrel, who “won the race” to the first ascent at the time against the route’s bolter, Wenzel Vodicka, who went on to make the second ascent.

It was also important to me personally to climb it because the third ascent, three years later, was done by Philippe Steulet, a pioneer of professional climbing from my region, whom I personnaly knew before his passing at the Eiger. And, well, the route is just 30 minutes from my home, at Chuensiberg in northern Switzerland, so I really had no excuse not to try it.

Ravage is a very short route, about ten meters, brutal, with extremely polished footholds. The first time I tried it, I honestly didn’t like it at all, mostly because I could barely execute any moves: everything felt too reachy, and thus impossible for me.

But after spending quite some time figuring out the solutions, adapting the techniques to my height, and falling again and again on the same dynamic move (well, “dynamic” if you’re under 1.60m tall with short reach ;-) ), I finally clipped the anchors on May 2. Without kneepad of course ;-)

And I think that the moment I reached the anchors, I truly understood the meaning behind the name Ravage that Antoine had given his route: "After climbing, there are no more thoughts left. No overthinking. At the top, I felt destroyed and happy. No thoughts remained. I felt free."

As a little anecdote, I went back later to film some footage and ended up climbing the route again. It just goes to show that once a move is fully integrated into both body and mind, everything feels easier."