Barbara Zangerl Sends Des Kaisers neue Kleider (5.14a) and Completes the Alpine Trilogy
She is the first woman to complete the heralded trio of hard, classic multi-pitches.
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Barbara Zangerl of Austria has become the first woman to complete the “Alpine Trilogy” after sending Des Kaisers neue Kleider (The Emperor’s New Clothes), which is a 5.14a rising roughly 800 feet up the limestone massif of Wilder Kaiser in Austria. Zangerl completed the route last Thursday after spending 15 days trying to “understand the secrets of The Emperor’s New Clothes,” with her climbing partner Jacopo Larcher of Italy, reports Planet Mountain. This major testpiece of the Alps was established in 1994 by the German rock climbing virtuoso Stephan Glowacz, and when combined with Beat Kammerlander’s 1994 route Silbergeier (5.14a) in the Ratikon range of Switzerland and Thomas Huber’s The End of Silence (5.14a), also put up in 1994 on the Feuerhorn near Reiter Alm in Berchtesgaden, Germany, completes the formidable Alpine Trilogy.
Zangerl first climbed The End of Silence last August, and then completed Silbergeier this past July. Now she has joined the ranks of the big-wall sport climbing elite with her repeat of The Emperor’s New Clothes. It wasn’t easy for Zangerl, however. Planet Mountain reports that she needed 7 attempts to redpoint pitch eight, which is the second 5.14a pitch on the route. But Zangerl finally pulled the crux and then cruised the remaining 5.11b pitch guarding the summit.
The 25-year-old Zangerl is quickly becoming one of the best all-around female climbers in the world. She first burst onto the scene for becoming one of the first women to climb V13 with her ascent of Pura Vida in Magic Wood, Switzerland. However, after suffering from a herniated disc, Zangerl seamlessly switched from hard bouldering and began climbing on a rope. However, Zangerl didn’t just go sport climbing, but has climbed everything from hard trad to scary, multi-pitch, alpine sport routes. Check out the video below of Zangerl climbing Super Cirill–a nine-pitch, 5.13b crack climb in Ticino, Switzerland.
BD athlete Barbara Zangerl climbing Super Cirill (8a) near Ticino, Switzerland from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.