Rock Climbing News November 2024

Following on from 'Sendtember' and 'Rocktober' November has been a productive month for some of the world's best rock climbers. While there have been many impressive ascents, the most astonishing is undoubtedly Austrian all-rounder Barbara Zangerl's first 'no-fall' ascent of El Capitan. Climbing with her partner Jacopo Larcher, 36-year old Zangerl flashed every pitch on the 1000m Freerider (5.13a/29), the route made famous by Alex Honnold in the movie Free Solo, thereby robbing future climbers of the onsight. With her flash ascent, Zangerl is the first free climber to climb an El Capitan route on the first attempt without falling and in a single push. Larcher took one fall on the infamous 'boulder problem' pitch, robbing the pair of a team send. 

Several climbers have come close to this kind of achievement in the past, in 1997 Yuji Hirayama famously came close to onsighting the 900m Salathé Wall (5.13b/29), eventually taking three falls. In 2012, Leo Houlding took one fall on Freerider while trying to onsight every pitch. In 2014, Pete Whittaker fell on the Boulder Problem pitch also, but abseiled down to the Teflon Corner variant pitch and sent that first go, a terrific achievement but nevertheless one that involved a fall (and a trip back to the ground for logistical reasons). Perhaps most agonisingly close, in 2022 František Bulička flashed all the way through the Boulder Problem pitch only to slip on the very last move of the Enduro Corner (the other crux pitch of the route). This history of world class climbers getting very close to this goal over the last thirty years shows what a fantastic achievement a first-try no-falls ascent of El Capitan is, certainly a raising of the bar fpr those still to come.

In an interview with Planet Mountain, Zangerl was typically humble and paid tribute to both luck and her climbing partner 'I was really, really lucky! There were hardly any other climbers on the route, the weather forecast had been bad but in the end it held up, conditions were actually very good and as we climbed upwards everything just seemed to slot into place. … Jacopo was really unlucky. He was so, so close to flashing the entire route! He led the Boulder Problem pitch before me and didn't see the undercling hold properly and as a result fell on the famous karate kick move. He then quickly redpointed the pitch second go and didn't make any other falls. Thanks to him that I had way more information about the crux and somehow I managed to stick the moves.'

While in Yosemite, Zangerl also repeated Ron Kauk's famous thin-crack Magic Line (5.14c/34). Having redpointed Meltdown (5.14c/34) last year, Zangerl became the first woman (and third climber overall) to repeat these two hardest single pitch climbs in Yosemite. Meltdown was first ascended by Beth Rodden, and Hazel Findlay made the first female ascent of Magic Line. Larcher also climbed Magic Line while the pair were in the Valley.

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At Pic St. Loup, Seb Bouin has made the first ascent of Wolf Kingdom (9b+/ 38). Bouin is no stranger to hard sport climbing first ascents, and suggests this might be his second hardest route, after DNA. He also predicts this route will become a popular one to try at the grade, given the funs tyle of climbing and aesthetic line. 

There have been an abundance of hard repeats elsewhere, with Eva Hammelmüller climbing Hades (9a/35) at Nasserieth, Austria. In the Frankenjura, Yannick Flohé has repeated Janus (9a+) at Angerstein. In Spain, Slovenian climber Domen Škofic has repeated Chilam Balam (9a+/36) at Villanueva del Rosario, once thought to be the hardest route in the world. Also in Spain, Austrian climber Jessica Pilz has redpointed her first 9a+/36, Papichulo at Oliana. Meanwhile, in Arco, Italy,  Laura Rogora has made a four-try, one session send of Bombardino (9a+/36). Rogora also recently climbed Trofeo dell'Adriatico at the same grade. Also in Arco, Giovanni Placci redpointed Erebor (9b/ 37) at the Eremo di San Paolo crag. In the Red River Gorge, Annie Sanders took a break from competition climbing to repeat Pure Imagination (5.14d/35). Alexander Megos onsighted Zootopia (5.14b/33) at the same area.

Shying away from all the bolts, Caroline Ciavaldini has made the third female ascent of Greenspit (8b+/32) a steep line with traditional protection that was once Europe's hardest single pitch trad climb and helped relaunch a new wave of elite trad routes around the world. The 39-year old french climber tore her hamstring on the route in May but after three months away from the route and some time on a home crack machine, she returned to the route in September and eventually found success.

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American Michaela Kiersch (29) is a name usually associated with hard sport climbing ticks, but she has been bouldering in Cresciano, Switzerland, making the first female ascent of one of the world's most famous hard boulders, Fred Nicole's Dreamtime (V15). 

Another American, Sea Bailey, has added to the list of world's hardest boulder problems with the first ascent of Shaolin (9A/V17) at Red Rocks, USA.

Janja Garnbret, not to be outdone, made a quick trip to Maltatal, Austria in between competitions, sponsor commitments and a well-earned holiday. In just a few days there she climbed Hide and Seek (8B+/V14), Power of Goodbye (8B/V13), Wrestling with an Alligator (8B/V13), Black Jack (8A+/V12) and a flash of Orgasmatron (8A/+/V11 or 12). There's little doubt that should she retire from competition climbing and take outdoor bouldering seriously, her limit is much higher.