Sharma sends super route at Oliana

Christmas has come early for Chris Sharma, who last Saturday added "Power inverter" to Oliana in his drive to develop Oliana into the high-end crag of the 21st century. Located on the ouskirts of Lleida, this latest addition is Sharma's third 9a+ at the impressive impressive Contrafort de Rumbau after Pachamama and Papichulo. Right as Sharma concentrated his efforts on Power Inverter, Dani Andrada came to grips with his "Duele la realidad", a 9a extension to a Markus Bock route freed by Ramon Julian Puigblanque at the start of November.

Pete O'Donovan described the Oliana in his winter 2010 guidebook as follows: "This awesomely steep cliff has to be one of the most stunning rock faces in Europe, and the climbs attacking the steeper central section of the wall almost redefine the word “spectacular”. Although first developed by local Catalan climbers in 2004, it was the arrival of American Chris Sharma that really got the ball rolling. Now the cliff offers a selection of more than 50 climbs, some of which — such as Papichulo and Pachamama (both 9a+) — are considered amongst the hardest in the world." Looks like the guidebook is out of date already!

To get a feel for Oliana, check out Sharma on his Pachamama below.