Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher have repeated Alex Luger’s Seventh Direction (8c) in Rätikon. The 220 meter long route follows a particularly steep part of the wall, with sustained and strenuous climbing, throughout. Here is Babsi’s report.

”On August 15th, after completing our project "The Gift," we heard that Nemo [Nemuel Feurle] 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 (8c) and another graded 8a+. "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 hand full days over two summers working on the steep line and finally made the very 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 8a to 8b+, 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 hardest 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 barley made it and clipped the anchor, realizing 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 practiced 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 of a great summer, spending lots of time in the beautiful Austrian part of the Rätikon.”

Sam Weir, who previously in 2024 has sent his two first 8C+’, has repeated Giuliano Cameroni’s Hazel Grace Sit 8C (+) in Gottardo / Gotthardpass.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I did the stand to Hazel grace back in 2021 and always wanted to come back to gottardo for the sit! Things lined up this August and I was able to go for some trips in August. There is one really hard move on the sit that took me 3 sessions and over 50 tries to stick it once. Day 5 it all lined up and I was able to top the boulder! The breakdown is about hard 8A+ (one mover) into 8B+. The boulder felt something in that 8C/+ range . Another 5 star bloc from Giul!

What is your next plan?
My plan is to try arrival of the birds from Aiden since I seem to be good at this 20 degree overhang static crimping style! If it’s too hard I’ll try Alphane again 😬

Do you train anything specific going for the hardest boulders or just train by projecting?
I have really changed the last 1,5 years. I used to only project hard boulders. A year ago I decided to start weight lifting and it changed my life. I put on some weight and muscle but no longer hurt my pulleys and feel so much stronger. This combined with hard board climbing is my training 2 times a week then one day a week outside on a project. Since I work full time I’m always training but if I want to send I’ll drop the weights for a few weeks and feel good!

What is your full time work?
I work as a contract manager in the nuclear industry in France.