Interview: Babsi Zangerl Becomes First Person to Flash El Capitan!
Austrian powerhouse Barbara “Babsi” Zangerl has stunned the climbing world, becoming the first person in history to successfully flash a route on El Capitan. Zangerl blitzed the 3,300-foot granite monolith via Free Rider (VI 5.13a) over a four-day ground-up push from November 19 to 22, all without falling. Zangerl was supported by her longtime partner—on and off the wall—Jacopo Larcher, who was attempting a flash as well, but had a single fall.
Free Rider, a Huber-brothers variation to the Salathé Wall (VI 5.9 C2; 3,500ft), is one of the most famous routes in Yosemite Valley. It’s perhaps best known as the route Alex Honnold climbed in the film Free Solo.
For years, 36-year-old Zangerl has proven to be one of the most versatile climbers in the game. She’s bouldered V13, climbed 5.14c trad, and has made rare free ascents of both high altitude climbs like the Nameless Tower’s Eternal Flame (5.13a) and the Eiger’s Odyssee (5.13c) and iconic Grade VI Yosemite lines like The Nose (5.14a), El Niño (5.13c), Zodiac (5.13d), and Magic Mushroom (5.14a). Zangerl was also the fourth person (and still only woman) to complete the “Alpine Trilogy,” entailing three 5.14 multipitches in the Alps: Des Kaisers neue Kleider, Silbergeier, and End of Silence.
There are few climbers with such an appetite for long, big, bad routes, and Zangerl’s eyes aren’t bigger than her stomach. She puts it down. Now she’s become the first person to flash a route on the Big Stone.
Zangerl said for her friend Kolin Powick had spent years trying to convince her and Larcher that they should have a go at Free Rider, but she didn’t really believe a flash was possible. “I had really low expectations,” she said.
It’s worth noting that in 2014 Pete Whittaker also sent parts of Free Rider on his first go, but with two caveats. First, after he and partner Tom Randall’s first day on the wall, they descended to the ground to escape heavy traffic, so the ascent was not completed in a continuous, ground-up push. Second, he fell on the “Boulder Problem” (5.13a) and then pivoted to the alternate “Teflon Corner” (5.12d), which he sent without falling. Cédric Lachat “flashed” the route under similar circumstances in 2009. And Adam Ondra attempted to onsight the Salathé Wall in a day in 2018—but he fell above the Boulder Problem, on the Salathé’s “Headwall” pitch.
Zangerl took us through her climb. “The Freeblast was quite tricky,” she said, speaking of Free Rider’s initial 10 pitches, which go at 5.11 and are often completed as a route on their own. The climbing isn’t as physically demanding as some pitches higher on the route, but it’s techy, footwork-intensive climbing that demands full concentration. “There are a lot of pitches where you don’t have good handholds, and you’re standing on quite bad feet. It’s a lot of insecure climbing, smearing on slippery holds, there are so many chances to make a mistake and fall.”
Another crux sequence, for Zangerl, was the “Monster Offwidth,” which she led first. As the name suggests, this is a sustained offwidth crack, requiring an arsenal of jams. “The Monster was a real fight for me,” she said. “I’m not really good at offwidth climbing.” She wore two shoes (one La Sportiva TC Pro inside another TC Pro) on her right foot during this pitch to lengthen her feet while heel-toe-camming.
A last-minute meeting with Alex Honnold just before they climbed may have saved the day. “Alex told me when it’s getting super exhausting on the Monster, I should lean out to the right, jamming my left leg, so I can rest,” Zangerl explained. “This was really helpful for me. There was a moment when I felt I couldn’t go any further, I was so exhausted, and then I leaned out of the crack like [Alex] told me, and it worked.”
The infamous “Boulder Problem” was the overwhelming crux, Zangerl said. Larcher took the first lead on this sequence, a tenuous, friction-based pitch that ends with a desperate “ninja kick” out to a dihedral, and this is where he took his fall, ending his flash attempt.
When Zangerl set off on lead, she quickly realized she was too short to use the same footholds as Larcher. She downclimbed to a rest and weighed her options. “When I found my own way, and got to the ninja kick, it was just completely out of control,” she explained. At the same time as Zangerl kicked her foot out, her left hand peeled off. “I thought I was falling,” she said. “But at the very last moment, I stuck the foot on the other side,” she said. “It was extremely insecure. I was really lucky.”
“The further up we got, there was more and more tension,” she explained, “as I began to think maybe it was possible.” Zangerl said that topping out with a flash left her with an incredible feeling. It was a feat she hadn’t really believed she could accomplish. But it was also tainted by the fact that her partner came up short by just a single move. “I was sad for Jacopo,” she said. “And, really, this was a team effort. We did this together. I could not have done this without Jacopo.” The duo has been climbing together for 11 years, and most of her hardest climbs, like Eternal Flame, have been completed with him on the other end of the rope. Zangerl admitted she also had an advantage over Larcher on the Boulder Problem, as he led the pitch first and provided real-time beta for her to consider.
Larcher offered some insight into his own experience on Instagram. “I briefly felt relieved [after falling,] as now I could just climb the rest without pressure… but after topping out, feelings changed. I won’t lie. This one meant a lot to me and failure is, and will be, hard to accept. We had an amazing time up there and I couldn’t be more proud of Babsi and her achievement!”
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