Sasha DiGiulian & Marianna Ordóñez make first female free ascent of 'Bravo Les Filles' on Tsaranoro (Madagascar)

Sasha DiGiulian and Marianna Ordóñez have become the first women to free climb Bravo Les Filles, the huge multipitch on Tsaranoro Kelly in Madagascar established in 1999 by Nancy Feagin, Lynn Hill, Kath Pike and Beth Rodden. The all-star women's team established the route ground-up over a period of 15 days; with time running out, they managed to free all the pitches except for pitch 8. Hill actually managed to free the individual moves on the crux, but twice failed to link them, before pushing on to the summit and graded the route 5.12c/AO. At the time Bravo Les Filles was the most difficult big wall rock climb ever put up by a team of women. The first free ascent was carried out by the Spanish brother Eneko and Iker Pou in 2004, with difficulties estimated at 8b.

DiGiulian and Ordóñez travelled to Madagascar at the start of June and immediately got to work on the line, getting to grips with the spicy run outs on the lower section and deciphering the crux pitch. They then completed a three-day free ascent, with DiGiulian sending the crux pitch first go, and the subsequent 5.12 before returning to their portaledge at the base of the crux pitch and spending the night there. The next day DiGiulian onsighted the remaining 600 feet to the summit, after which they abseiled down to the portaledge for a final night before cleaning the gear and descending safely back to the ground on the morning of day 3.

This is not DiGiulian's first success on Tsaranoro. In 2017 the American teamed up with Edu Marin from Spain to complete the second free ascent of Mora Mora (8c, 700m) on nearby Tsaranoro Atsimo.