BURSTKatie Lamb sent L’Oppio Dei Climbers V14 (8B+) in Val Daone, Italy, on a recent trip to the area. It was a seemingly effortless ascent for the American climber, who was the first woman to send V16 – she has now topped at least 18 boulders graded V14 or harder.
“This is L’Oppio Dei Climbers [V14] from a fun day with a big La Sportiva group in Val Daone before heading to Arco,” said Lamb on Instagram.
L’Oppio Dei Climbers was FA’d by Valdo Chilese and has seen repeats by top climbers like Stefano Ghisolfi and Adam Ondra, among others. In the fall of 2025, Janja Garnbret made the first female ascent. Ondra described on Instagram: “It is a very finicky boulder problem where physical and technical difficulties meet. You need a lot of core power, as well as being incredibly precise and gentle with heel-toe cams. The top-out is icing on the cake that I haven’t really tried much before, and I definitely underestimated it.”
The boulder involves 20+ moves on steep terrain – perhaps more for Ghisolfi, who joked, “Shirt on, no beanie, chalk bag… too many mistakes to be considered a bouldering bro.” There is a rose move in the opening sequence, and while Ondra cut feet several times, Lamb’s dialled beta only involved cutting feet once before the top out.
Lamb is one of the best boulderers in the world. Her first female ascent of The Dark Side V16 was historic, making her the first woman to achieve the grade. It was the second time she became the first woman to climb V16. Back in 2023, she climbed Box Therapy, which, at the time, was considered V16. After her ascent, the problem was downgraded to V15 by Shawn and Brooke Raboutou, a grade assessment that first ascensionist Daniel Woods agreed with.
Earlier this year, she established 130 BPM V15 in Yosemite Valley, her first FA of the grade. Other hard ascents include Bügeleisen V14 and Hide and Sick V14, which she topped in the fall of last year. Bügeleisen and Hide and Sick are located in Maltatal, Austria, and impressively, Lamb topped both problems during the same bouldering session.
Lamb also had a very sendy 2024. In May that year, she made the first ascent of 24 Karat, a stunning V11 highball in Yosemite. In August, she topped Equanimity V15, a line Jimmy Webb described as a “contender for the hardest technical boulder in the world.” Later in the year, she made first female ascents of David Fitzgerald’s Echo Chamber V14 and Webb’s Fallen Angel V15, both located in Tahoe. She also topped The Rookery V14 in Yosemite.
Stefano Ghisolfi Climbing L’Oppio Dei Climbers V14
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