| Barbara Zangerl | |
| Birth Date: | 24 May 1988 |
| Birth Place: | Tyrol, Austria |
| Occupation: | Professional rock climber Medical radiographer |
| Height: | 162cm[1] |
| Weight: | 54 kg |
| Apeindex: | -2cm (-0.78 inch) |
| Updated: | 5 April 2024 |
Barbara Zangerl (born 24 May 1988) is an Austrian rock climber who is widely considered as one of the best all-round female climbers in the world. At various stages in her career, she has climbed at, or just below, the highest climbing grades achieved by a female in every major rock climbing discipline, including bouldering, traditional climbing, sport climbing, multi-pitch climbing and big wall climbing.[1]
She was the first-ever female to solve an 8A+/8B (V12/13) graded bouldering route with Pura Vida in 2008, and has repeated some of the hardest traditional climbing routes in the world, including Meltdown in 2023, which at is still the hardest traditional climbing grade by a female climber. Zangerl has redpointed sport climbs to grade such as Speed Integrale in 2018, and Sprengstoff in 2021.
Zangerl has made the first female free ascent (FFFA) of several major multi-pitch and big wall climbing routes including the in 2013, three major routes on El Capitan (El Nino in 2015, Zodiac in 2015, and Magic Mushroom in 2016), the Eiger's hardest route, Odyssee, in 2018, and one of the hardest high-altitude big wall routes, Eternal Flame on the Nameless Tower in Pakistan, in 2022.
In 2019, she was named as the National Geographic 'Adventurer of the Year'. She is also known for her climbing partnership with Italian rock climber Jacopo Larcher.[1]
Zangerl was born and raised in the small village of Strengen in the Austrian Tyrol. Her parents would regularly bring their five children hiking and skiing in the surrounding mountains. When she was 14 years old, her brother brought her and her 16-year-old sister Claudia to the climbing gym in the neighboring village of Flirsch am Arlberg, where she became hooked on the sport. Austrian climber –no relation—introduced the girls to climbing on natural rock, and to bouldering in particular.[1]
Focusing initially on bouldering, in 2005, Zangerl solved her first graded problem with her ascent of X-Ray in Silvretta in Austria. In 2008, aged only 19, she solved Pura Vida in Switzerland's Magic Wood. At the time, the highest bouldering grade solved by a female climber was, and Pura Vida was considered at least 8A+/B and possibly 8B. While the first-ever full graded boulder to be solved by a female is regarded as Angie Payne's 2010 ascent of Automator, Zangerl's 2008 ascent of Pura Vida is regarded as being the hardest boulder solved by a female climber at that time.[1]
Zangerl largely avoided the full competition bouldering circuit but did enter the annual international bouldering competition of Melloblocco, which she won four times in 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2013. After suffering a herniated L5-S1 disk in her lower back in 2009, she was forced to largely abandon bouldering for a few years and focus on types of climbing that created fewer direct strains on her back.[1]
After retiring from bouldering and taking time off in 2009 to allow her back to recover, Zangerl began to focus on easier sport climbing routes. While single pitch sport climbing never became a core focus for Zangerl, by 2018 she was climbing at the grade of when the highest achieved female sport climbing grade was just two notches higher at . Zangerl made the first female free ascent (FFFA) of several notable sport routes including Speed Integrale (9a, 2018), Everything is Karate (8c+/9a, 2019), and Sprengstoff (9a, 2021). Zangerl has the first free ascent (FFA) of her own single-pitch routes including Gondo Crack in 2017 (which she "greenpointed" as a traditional route).
Zangerl's first traditional climbing route was Super Krill in 2012.[1] By 2014, she had made the FFFA of 's Prinzip Hoffnung at 5.14 R 8b/+ E9/E10, which was one of the hardest traditional routes at the time. Over the next few years, Zangerl made the FFFA of several notable traditional testpieces including Dave MacLeod's Achemine E9 6c 8b (2016), Sonnie Trotter's The Path R (2018), and Didier Berthod's Greenspit R (2020). In 2023, she made the fourth-ever ascent of Beth Rodden's Meltdown in Yosemite, which at was still the hardest traditional grade achieved by a female, and one notch behind the hardest traditional grade of .
It is in big wall climbing–in both traditional and sport climbing formats–that Zangerl focused much of her time, and often with climbing and life partner, Jacopo Larcher. While they will swap the easier leads on big wall routes, they will both individually lead all of the hard pitches.
In 2013, Zangerl became the first-ever female, and only the fouth-ever person, to complete the of extreme multi-pitch sport climbing alpine routes, that include (2013), (2013), and (2012). In 2015, Zangerl followed it up with the second-ever female ascent of Alexander Huber's , and the joint-FFFA, with, of Beat Kammerlander's Die Unendliche Geschichte (The Neverending Story) .
From 2015, Zangerl, climbing with partner Larcher, made the FFFA of several major big wall routes on El Capitan including El Nino (2015), Zodiac (2016), and Magic Mushroom (2017). At the time of their ascent, Magic Mushroom was El Capitan's hardest route after The Dawn Wall, and their ascent was the first repeat of the route after Tommy Caldwell had made the FFA in 2008.
In 2018, Zangerl and Larcher moved into big wall alpine climbing routes making the first repeat of the Eiger's hardest route, Odyssee at . In 2020, they returned to make the first one-day ascent of the route, taking under 16 hours. In 2022, the pair ventured into high-altitude big-wall climbing on the Trango Towers, when they made only the third free ascent, and Zangerl the FFFA, of the historic high-altitude big wall route, Eternal Flame, on the Nameless Tower in Pakistan, where the crux is at over 6000m (20,000feet).
As a result of her achievements across the rock climbing disciplines of bouldering, traditional climbing, sport climbing, multi-pitch climbing and big wall climbing, Zangerl is widely considered one of the world's strongest "all-round" female climbers.[1] She is noted for climbing at, or just below, the highest climbing grades being achieved by female rock climbers in each discipline, at various stages in her career.
In 2019, National Geographic said: "Zangerl is Austrian, extremely humble, and carries an air of the girl-next-door. Her low-key nature, however, belies her reputation among her peers as the best all-around female climber in the world". Czech climber Adam Ondra said of Zangarel: "It is extremely difficult to find climbers who are achieving in so many different disciplines, and among female climbers it is even more rare," and "Babsi is definitely one of the best all-around female climbers, if not the very best". American climber Alex Honnold said: "I can't really think of any other women climbing at such a high level in so many different disciplines," and "She's such an unassuming 'world’s best.' She's so mellow that it's hard to think of her as 'the best,' which is a good thing". In 2021, PlanetMountain called her "One of the great all-round climbers of our time". In 2022, Climbing said of her "The Austrian Barbara “Babsi” Zangerl has ticked V13, 5.14d sport, 5.14 trad, the Alpine Trilogy of 5.14-, multi-pitch, high-altitude free climbs, and some of the hardest free routes on El Capitan, making her one of the best, most versatile climbers in the world".[1]
For much of her professional climbing career, Zangerl has also held a part-time job as an assistant medical radiographer in a hospital in Bludenz in Austria. She began her studies as a radiographer while convalescing from her back injury in 2009.[1]
Since 2013, Zangerl has been dating Italian climber Jacopo Larcher, and pair have been regular climbing partners since then.[2] In 2019, Zangerl told National Geographic about her relationship with Larcher: "We're a good team," and "It's easy for us to handle stress on the wall because there's always something to do. At home, though, it's a little different," she says with a laugh".