Barbara Zangerl flashes Freerider on El Capitan

Breaking news: Barbara Zangerl has flashed Freerider (VI 5.13a), the 1000m big wall on El Capitan in Yosemite climbed free in 1998 Alexander Huber and his brother Thomas Huber, then rendered world-famous by Alex Honnold's audacious free solo in June 2017. The 36-year-old has ushered in a new level with her no-falls ascent, while her climbing partner Jacopo Larcher narrowly missed the flash after a single fall on the boulder crux.

The Austrian has a climbing resumé like few others, in particular in Yosemite where over the last decade she has repeated El Niño (2015), Zodiac (2016), Magic Mushroom (2017), Pre-Muir Wall (2019) and The Nose (2019).

An ascent of this magnitude has been in the making for a while. In 2012 Britain's Leo Houlding missed becoming the first person to lead every pitch of an El Cap free route onsight, taking just one fall on Free Rider. In 2014 his compatriot Pete Whittaker made a remarkable ascent of the same route, falling once on the Boulder Problem Pitch, before abseiling down and promptly sending the Teflon Corner variation first try. 

This is a running story and further details will follow in due course about Zangerl's historic ascent

 

 

 

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