The Austrian extreme climber is the second woman after Catherine Destivelle to be honored with the award of the International Paul Prize Society (IPPG).
The International Paul Preuss Society (IPPG) awards Barbara «Babsi» Zangerl the Paul Preuss Prize, an award for achievements in mountaineering and climbing named after the “father of free climbing” Paul Preuss (1886–1913).
Paul Preuss was the best free climber of his time, categorically rejecting climbing aids and accepting them only as a safety measure. With the maxim "Ability is the measure of permission," the philosopher defended his climbing ethic throughout his life.
Zangerl, born in Vorarlberg, is the first woman after the French climber Catherine Destivelle (2021) the prize, which has been awarded since 2013. This prize recognizes "not only outstanding achievements in the mountains," but also free climbing without technical ascent aids in the spirit of Preuss.
Zangerl impressed the IPPG jury with her extreme climbing tours, allowing her to prevail over several male competitors.
IPPG
Last year, the Swiss Dani Arnold He received the award for his particularly fast free solo ascents. Zangerl's award ceremony will take place in September 2025 in Preuss's hometown of Altaussee, in the presence of current and former famous mountaineers.
Babsi Zangerl: world's best all-round climber
The IPPG jury selected Zangerl, who began climbing at the age of 13, for the award based on her "spectacular" successes. Since then, she has mastered the world's most difficult routes, especially in trad and sport climbing, thereby "further pushing the boundaries of women's sport."
This had never been seen before in big wall climbing at such a high level.
IPPG jury on Zangerl's liberation from Eternal Flame
Zangerl was already named "Adventurer of the Year" by National Geographic in 2019 and looks back on a career that is unparalleled. In 2021, she freed the Trango Tower in Pakistan without a single fall and continued to repeat rarely used trad routes such as Meltdown (8c +) and Magic Line (8c+) in Yosemite.
In 2025, Babsi Zangerl was the first person ever to flash the 32-pitch route Freerider (7c+, 1.000m) on El CapitanIn the Alps she climbed some of the most challenging multi-pitch routes such as The Gift (8c, 300m) or Seventh Direction (8c, 200m). These and other successes were "reason enough to award her this prize" for the jury.
Barbara Zangerl is considered the best all-round climber in the world today.
IPPG
Paul Preuss Prize: previous winners
- 2013: Reinhold Messner
- 2014: Hanspeter Eisendle
- 2015: Albert Precht
- 2016: Hansjörg Auer
- 2017: Alexander Huber
- 2018: Beat Kammerlander
- 2019: Bernd Arnold
- 2020: Heinz Mariacher
- 2021: Catherine Destivelle
- 2022: Thomas Huber
- 2023: Marko Prezelj
- 2024: Daniel Arnold
- 2025: Babsi Zangerl
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Credits Cover photo: Dave Yarwood