First Female Ascents

In the world of rock climbing getting the first ascent of a problem, or the “FA”, is a pretty big deal. You don’t actually get anything for it, just recognition that you’re basically a bad-ass that climbs pretty hard because the climbs that usually get the most recognition are among the hardest in the world. With that said, I’d like to bring up the topic of first female ascents, “FFA”. This has become a bit of a controversial topic because what does it actually imply? More and more females are climbing and many are just as good if not better than the boys. Is it that surprising that a female can climb just as hard as a male? So it becomes almost degrading when the FFA is publicized because it only feeds into the preconception that girls are always a couple steps behind the boys.
On the other hand, it was pretty exciting when a girl did a 5.13d route called “The Man Show”, a name reflecting the opinion of the first ascentionist that a woman could never, ever repeat the route. Or when Lynn Hill became the first PERSON to ever free the Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite…in one day; something that takes an average of 5 days to complete and that has only been repeated as a one-day-free-ascent once in 2005.
So is this “FFA” title demeaning or encouraging? I can see both sides of the spectrum, but for me, right now, as I grow into my own climbing abilities, I look at it as encouragement, in the hopes that one day I too can be a bad-ass climber that gets a first female ascent or, heck, just a plain ole’ first ascent too.

Sarah R.
338i,S06