Sasha DiGiulian, Matilda Söderlund, Brette Harrington repeat Rayu, 8c Picos de Europa multipitch

On the south face of Peña Santa de Castilla (2596m) in the Picos de Europa massif in Northern Spain, Sasha DiGiulian, Matilda Söderlund and Brette Harrington have made the second ascent and first female ascent of Rayu. This multi-pitch climb is over 600 meters high and was established ground-up and subsequently freed with difficulties up to 8c by Iker Pou, Eneko Pou and Kico Cerdá in 2020.

DiGiulian, Söderlund and Harrington travelled to the Cantabrian Mountains in late August and immediately started working the line which offers technical difficulties up to 7b in the first seven pitches. Many of these have no bolts, or are protected by just one or two, and therefore need to be protected with trad gear. After these first 300 meters, another 6 pitches follow where the difficulties increase considerably and lead to the crux, pitch eleven, graded 8c. Here, too, the bolts are run-out and to the pro needs integrating. In addition to the aforementioned physical and psychological difficulties, on several occasions the trio also had to deal with extremely rough weather.

As for the successful repeat, on Monday 13 September the trio swung leads and climbed each pitch free, while DiGiulian and Söderlund both led the crux pitch. Despite various other attempts Harrington unfortunately failed to redpoint this pitch but, knowing the talented mountaineer, her free ascent is simply postponed to a later date.

Rayu is currently the hardest multi-pitch route climbed by an all-female team and confirmation, yet again, of how much female rock climbing has evolved over the last few decades.