With her ascent of Adam Ondra's sport climbing route Bombardino (9a+) in Arco, trad, sport and big wall expert Babsi Zangerl once again underlines her status as an impressive all-round climber.
Babsi Zangerl, who last November with their flash of the 1.000 meter big wall Freerider (7c+) on El Capitan, has once again shown in Arco why she is rightly considered one of the best all-round climbers in the world. The Austrian repeated the route Bombardino (9a+) on the Bus de la Stria, established in 2022 by Alfredo Webber and freed in the same year by Adam Ondra.
The rock structures are amazing, and the route is very varied and follows a very logical line. It was really fun to plan it.
Babsi Zangerl
Originally rated 9a+/b by Ondra, the route is now rated 9a+ after Stefano Ghisolfi found easier Beta in the year of the first ascent. For Babsi Zangerl, it is her first sport climbing route of this grade. Previously, she had Speed Intégrale at the Voralpsee and in 2021 with explosive climbed two 9as on the Lorünsler Wändle.
Pump without end
An Bombardino What particularly appealed to Zangerl was that the line runs through the most exposed part of the Bus de la Stria in the north of Arcos. The crux of the matter for her was managing the last few trains to the good Knieklemmer despite the pump.
Before I got through, I fell three times on the last move.
Babsi Zangerl
The single most difficult section, however, was the boulder problem that preceded it: "After a fairly good tufa, you come to a bare section with very small holds; that was the single hardest section. Afterward, pumping up the sloping crack passage to the right was certainly the crux of the climb."
In total, Babsi Zangerl spent a week or a few days on her project over a period of two months. She doesn't know exactly how many sessions she invested in Bombardino in total—but she does know that once sport climbing conditions end, she'll be heading back to the mountains soon.
I think the sport climbing season will soon be over, and then I'll be more likely to head back to the mountains to climb longer routes. I really like that in the summer!
Babsi Zangerl
Trad, Bigwall, Sport: Zangerl's impressive tick list
Babsi Zangerl's repertoire is one of the broadest and most versatile of all: with ascents of Greenspit in the Valle dell'Orco, The Journey in Annot or Principle hope In Bürs, Zangerl is among the absolute elite in trad climbing. In 2023, she climbed Meltdown (8c+), in 2024 she succeeded in the second female ascent of Magic Line (8c+) – both lines in Yosemite Valley are among the hardest trad routes in the world.
Together with your partner Jacopo Larcher Babsi Zangerl has also repeated many challenging big wall routes, including The Gift (8c, 350 m) in the Rätikon, Eternal Flame (7c+, 650 m) on the Trango Tower or most recently Freerider (7c+, 1.000 m) on El Capitan. There, the duo also successfully completed a free ascent of the Nose.
«Flashed» | Babsi Zangerl in Freerider
That might interest you
- Babsi Zangerl climbs one of the hardest crack routes in the world: Magic Line (8c+)
- Jacopo Larcher and Babsi Zangerl repeat difficult multi-pitch route The Gift (8c, 350m)
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Credits cover photo: Jacopo Larcher