Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher repeat 220m long Seventh Direction (F8c)

• Friday 13th September 2024

Following up on their recent ascent of The Gift (a 350m long F8c) in Rätikon, Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher, followed this up with the second and third repeats of Seventh Direction first climbed by Alex Luger in 2022. Babsi once again claimed the first female ascent.

Located on the Drusenfluh East Face in the Rätikon in Switzerland, the 220m long route is graded F8c, with the fifth of the seven pitches holding the route’s crux. The route follows a particularly steep part of the wall, with sustained and strenuous climbing, throughout. Babsi and Jacopo’s ascents followed the route’s first repeat by Nemuel Feurle, one week earlier.

Babsi commented: “On August 15th, after completing our project The Gift, we heard that Nemo had successfully climbed Seventh Direction, which is located on the same rock face but about 50 meters to the left. Unlike The Gift, which has one very hard pitch (F8c) and another graded F8a+. Seventh Direction is consistently difficult and runs through the steepest section of the massif. While we were working on The Gift we often saw Nemo taking big falls on this exposed route. He spent two full days over two summers working on the steep line and finally made the first repeat of Seventh Direction at the end of August.

After Jacopo’s send of The Gift he decided to join Nemo for a day on Seventh Direction to get a feel for it. They climbed the first difficult pitch together before a severe thunderstorm forced them to retreat. On the next attempt, I joined in.

Jacopo and I spent three days together on Seventh Direction. We worked out all the pitches and found solutions for the tough sections, benefiting greatly from Nemo’s previous efforts. He left his fixed ropes, and the route was already cleaned with visible chalk marks, making our task a bit easier. After three days of work on the different pitches, we decided to try a redpoint ascent. With five of the eight pitches ranging from F8a to F8b+, we agreed to approach it the same way as The Gift – one of us leading all pitches one day, and the other the next. To decide who would go first, we played rock-paper-scissors. The luck was on my side and I won, meaning I was up the next day.

On September 1st, we started early due to a high chance of thunderstorms that day. The first three pitches were easy, but the first hard pitch in the steep part of the wall took all my energy; I was not fully warmed up and barely managed to climb that pitch. My arms were pumped, and I felt already exhausted after the first hard section of the overhang. After a brief rest, I pushed on, feeling more confident but still nervous. I fought through a tricky boulder problem, only to fall just before the anchor of the second-highest pitch. Frustrated!! Jacopo lowered me back down to the belay. I tried again 45 minutes later and made it to the anchor. Back in the game.

Then came the crux pitch. It was a massive fight, but I somehow barely made it and clipped the anchor, realising I still had a little chance to send the whole line that day. Without much rest, scared from dark clouds in the sky, I pushed through the next 8a pitch, making it to the very last pitch as the sky grew darker. I asked Jacopo if he could jumar up instead of climbing to save time, as we could hear thunder approaching.

Again no time for a proper rest, I began the final pitch, the one I had practised the most. I was confident on that one but really exhausted as well. Maybe it was too much of a rush and pressure to keep on going. Again I fell at the very last move. I thought it was over. But then, a miracle – a small blue window opened in the clouds right above our route, while it rained all around us. After an hour's rest, the sky cleared, giving me one more chance. Feeling more relaxed and finally after a proper rest I climbed through the cruxes and reached the top.

It was one of my most intense and motivated days in Rätikon – an incredible, steep climb through the wildest part of this wall located at Gelbegg. Thanks, Alex Luger, for this amazing route!

And biggest thanks to my partner in crime for all the support during the day and for sharing all those great moments together.

Jacopo climbed the route two days later on the 3rd of September. He didn’t have a single fall. Climbed everything first try on lead! It was a perfect day, we were super-fast, both no falls and we stood on top of the wall already around 2:30 p.m. That was a perfect ending to a great summer, spending lots of time in the beautiful Austrian part of the Rätikon.”