Babsi Zangerl secures the fourth ascent of Meltdown (8c+) in Cascade Creek in Yosemite Valley, California. Beth Rodden's iconic trad crack line is one of the most difficult of its kind in the world.
Our preview of Babsi Zangerl and Lara Neumeier There is currently an extremely strong Austrian-German duo in Yosemite Valley. And the two climbers definitely don't let anything go wrong. First Lara Neumeier climbed the exposed roof of the cult route Separate Reality, then Babsi Zangerl managed Beth Rodden's brutal trad crack line Meltdown (8c+) to repeat.
Babsi Zangerl
Meltdown is the hardest trad line I've ever done. She felt so hard for the degree. It was a real mental battle for me.
Video: Babsi Zangerl climbs Meltdown (8c+)
Fourth ascent of Meltdown
The fact that Babsi Zangerl was making pretty good progress with the project was already evident in the video above, which she shared a few days ago. She's working hard to put the crux sequence together, but after the shed the route isn't over yet. “I love trying this route.”
On October 28, the Tyrolean trad specialist finally managed to climb Meltdown. Babsi Zangerl once again succeeded in climbing an extremely difficult and self-protecting crack line. Greenspit in the Valle dell'Orco, she even became the first female free ascent of the route.
I had to reduce the protection to a minimum to save energy for the crux. The chance that my foot would stay on the tiny mini-edge wasn't even close to 50%. My foot slipped so many times.
Babsi Zangerl
Meltdown remained unrepeated for over a decade after the first ascent by Beth Rodden in 2008. Successful in 2018 Carlo Traversi the first repetition, four years later, secured Babsi's partner Jacopo Larcher the third ascent.
Meltdown is such an iconic line. A big thank you to Beth Rodden for the inspiration, you are a legend!
Babsi Zangerl
That might interest you
- Babsi Zangerl in one of the toughest trad routes in France (Le Voyage, E10, 7a)
- Video - Babsi Zangerl climbs one of the toughest trad routes in Europe: Greenspit
- Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher repeat Eternal Flame (650m, 7c+) at the Trango Tower
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Credits: Cover picture Ben Neilson