Of Ramon Julian Puigblanque, Chris Sharma once jokingly said: "He is so strong, he actually makes me want to quit climbing."

But then he added, seriously: "He's the strongest climber I've ever seen climb."

"Ramonet" Julian Puigblanque arrived in Colorado last week for the first lead World Cup on U.S. soil in two decades. Puigblanque entered the finals round on Sunday evening tied for second place with Sean McColl, and was certainly a favorite for the win. However, a height-dependent dyno early on seemed to discriminate against the 5'2" competitor, and Puigblanque fell--the only finalist to not even reach the dyno hold. After lowering down, he was professional, but his face appeared notably disappointed.

"These were not the results I had hoped for," Puigblanque wrote on his blog. After the comp, Puigblanque, along with fellow Spanish compatriots Edu Marin and Toni Roy, planned to visit Rifle for a couple of days of climbing. It would be safe to say that the Puigblanque's performance in the last two days has more than made up for his disappointing World Cup finish.

On the first day, Puigblanque onsighted Der Stihl (5.13c), the Bride of Frankenstein (5.13d) and Slice of Life (5.13d). He also tried to onsight Zulu (5.14a), but fell at the crux--a V9 dyno. After pulling back on, he casually climbed to the top, calling the line a beautiful route.

On day two, Puigblanque onsighted Living in Fear (5.13d), shaking out in the worst possible places, and making the super-sustained testpiece look like 5.10, according to witnesses. After onsighting Living, Puigblanque returned to the Wicked Cave, and surprised himself by onsighting The Crew (5.14c), one of the hardest routes in the canyon. The performance was a true "a muerte" fight to the end. Some of the hardest moves on the route are right at the top, and are said to be especially hard if you're short. Puigblanque did not wear knee pads.

This onsight of The Crew is, without a doubt, the hardest onsight in Rifle history, and probably the hardest onsight ever recorded on American soil. To put this into perspective, no 5.14 has ever before been onsighted in Rifle, a place notorious for cryptic, hard-to-read movement. 5.14c onsights, in general, are rare, with only Adam Ondra, Ramon Julian Puigblanque and Patxi Usobiaga having ever climbed the grade first try, with no knowledge. Prior to Julian's visit, the hardest recorded onsights in Rifle were Yuji Hirayama's onsight of Sometimes Always (5.13c), Francois Legrand's onsight of Present Tense (5.13d) and Dave Graham's onsight of Gropius (hard-as-nails 5.13d). (Graham also flashed Slice of Life (5.13d)).

After onsighting The Crew, Puigblanque finished his day with a final send of Tomb Raider (5.13d), of course, also onsight. As with most World Cup climbers whose time on real rock is limited by training and competitions schedules, Puigblanque is psyched to get back to training for the next World Cup, slated to take place in Amman, Jordan.