Gripped Magazine
Michaela Kiersch Climbs an Adam Ondra 5.14c
Michaela Kiersch has just repeated Pungitopo 5.14c in Arco, Italy. Her ascent comes not long after her successful bouldering trip to Oukaïmeden, Morocco, where she made several first ascents, including four highballs.
“A perfect weekend in Arco, Italy,” said Kiersch on Instagram. While the video footage of her climbing shows her gracefully tiptoeing her way along a technical diagonal traversing line and making light work of the crux, she added, “1 cm less and [I don’t know] if I could do this move”.
Francesco Morandi had the vision for Pungitopo and bolted the route. When he realized it climbed harder than his level, he recruited Adam Ondra to suss it out. Ondra made the first ascent in March 2022. Since his FA, many other top climbers have gone on to repeat the route, including Gio Placci, Stefano Ghisolfi, Filip Schenk, and Eva Hammelmüller.
“Epic line, epic rock,” said Ondra about the route on 8a.nu. “Hard to say the grade, tried one day with soft skin and wrong beta, then did next day with better beta. Could be [5.14c].” On Ondra’s YouTube channel, he goes as far as calling Pungitopo the “Most aesthetic rock climb in Arco”.
Morandi eventually sent it too. “My biggest journey, from bolting it to sending it,” he said on 8a.nu. “40+ tries, 16 sessions in two months. Clipping that chain had so much meaning to me.”
Kiersch is an incredibly accomplished climber. She was the first woman to climb V15 and 5.15a. In February, she went bouldering in Oukaïmeden, Morocco and established many problems. She and Ashima Shiraishi made the first and second ascents of Taradine V13. Kiersch also established of four highballs: Atlas V11, Aphrodite V6, Artemis V8, and Athena V9. In September 2025, she made history with her first ascent of Mad Lib 5.14d in Lone Rock Point, Vermont – this was the hardest sport route to ever be established by a woman in North America. Two days later, she made the FFA of Livin’ Astroglide 5.14c in Rumney, New Hampshire. In November 2024, she climbed Dreamtime V15 in Cresciano, Switzerland. Her 5.15a climbs include La Rambla in 2023 and Víctima Perfecta in 2024.
Adam Ondra’s First Ascent of Pungitopo 5.14c
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