From Gripped Magazine · gripped · · 2m
Babsi Zangerl's 5.14c comeback on Déjà
A 400m Rätikon test piece, a razor-sharp crux pitch, and the first recorded female ascent of a 5.14c multi-pitch.
In brief
A 400m Rätikon test piece, a razor-sharp crux pitch, and the first recorded female ascent of a 5.14c multi-pitch. Zangerl had never climbed Déjà's crux pitch cleanly until the morning she sent the whole route, on her third try that day with nothing left in the tank. Originally reported by Gripped Magazine.
Two ascents, one wall
Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher made the second and third free ascents of Déjà, 5.14c and 400 metres, on the south face of the Kirchlispitzen in the Rätikon.
A project 30 years old
Andres Lietha and Michi Wyser first climbed the line in 1992 and freed most of it. The fifth pitch stayed unfinished for more than 25 years.
“It's where I tried my first real multi-pitch project.”
Larcher's long history
Fabian Buhl invited him to try it in 2015, when nobody knew if the fifth pitch would go. Buhl kept at it and made the first free ascent in 2019.
“You don't know if it is possible, and every move you manage to free climb feels like a little gift.”
The pitch that eats skin
The fifth pitch goes at 8c+, sustained to the belay on small razor-sharp holds. Both climbers called it the hardest single pitch they had tried on any multi-pitch.
“It's such a unique pitch, extremely hard and sustained all the way to the belay. You can fall almost anywhere.”
Climbing around the heat
The south face bakes in summer, and damaged skin left only a few good attempts. They switched to very early mornings and late evenings.
E-bikes and 2 a.m. finishes
Road maintenance closed the usual access to Grüscher Älpli on weekdays, so they rode in from the Austrian side and often got home at one or two in the morning.
“Almost every day became a little mission. It felt like real adventure climbing.”
It never gets easy
Pitch 11 is a second obstacle at around 8b, sustained and capped by a hard boulder problem right at the end. They rehearsed the upper pitches, then went ground up.
“Even after the crux there is still a lot of climbing ahead of you.”
Third try, empty tank
On July 6 Zangerl had still never done the crux clean. She slipped off twice high on the pitch, then fought through on her third attempt with almost nothing left.
“I could feel that there wasn't much left in the tank. But somehow it was just enough.”
A first in the record books
She sent every remaining pitch without falling and topped out in a day. It stands as the first recorded female ascent of a 5.14c multi-pitch, after Jenny Lavarda's 2009 route was downgraded to 8b+.
More comeback than grade
The send followed a long layoff from a back injury in late 2025. Days later Larcher sent too, tired from routesetting, topping out at 11:30 a.m. under helpful cloud cover.
“It wasn't only about the difficulty. It felt like a real comeback.”
The big picture
Zangerl had never climbed Déjà's crux pitch cleanly until the morning she sent the whole route, on her third try that day with nothing left in the tank.
