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How Austrian climber Babsi Zangerl completed a ehard to believef historic ascent of El Capitan
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On a vertical rockface like El Capitan, the soaring slab of granite in Californiafs Yosemite National Park, perfection is an elusive, almost impossible goal for professional climbers.
It can take years of experience to master a route to the top of the 3,000-foot wall, such is its difficulty and magnitude. Thatfs precisely why Babsi Zangerlfs recent gflashh of El Cap is so unique and impressive.
In climbing, to gflashh a route is to reach the top on the first attempt without any falls@a feat never before achieved on El Cap prior to Zangerlfs maiden summit of Freerider last month. From bottom to top, she was faultless.
gIt was hard to believe,h the Austrian climber tells CNN Sport. gI was so surprised that this just happened and that I didnft fall c I could have fallen so many times on that climb.h
Freerider is a popular route up El Capitan, the same one taken by Alex Honnold when he climbed the rockface without ropes or harnesses in the Oscar-winning documentary gFree Solo.h
Zangerl has lots of experience climbing on El Cap and around Yosemite but had never previously attempted the 30-plus pitches up Freerider. The challenging Monster Offwidth section@a 60-meter-long (almost 197 feet) crack around halfway through the climb@had put her off, and flashing the route, she says, wasnft a long-standing target for her.
gIt was more that we just could try to go flash and see how far we can get,h Zangerl explains. gBut the expectations were really low, so it was not a big goal from the beginning c There are some really slabby pitches where you donft have hand holds, so youfre mostly standing on the bad feet, and you always can slip off.
gThe chance was really low@I didnft have the feeling that we have a big chance on the flash.h
It was only once she had conquered the Boulder Problem@perhaps the hardest, most treacherous part of the climb with only razor-thin holds on which to grip@that the flash seemed possible.
gThen it was kind of: you donft want to f**k it up on the last part,h says Zangerl.
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Robertocycle
- 25/1/18(“y) 18:13 -
