Julia Pfanzelt and Cathy Wagner met last week in the Dolomites where they both did Il risanatore plus (8a) in Salares, both suggesting an upgrade to 8a+. Inspiringly, they both are in their prime at ages 52 and 56 respectively. Cathy is well known having made 8a headlines 80 times. She did her first 8a, out of some 850, in 1994, eight years before Julia started to climb at age 32. In the last year, Julia has done eight routes 8a and 8a+ meaning she has had her best year ever. (c) Chris Pfanzelt

Julia, could you say something about your climbing life, and excelling at age 52?
Before I started climbing I did other sports: as a child, I did gymnastics until I became too tall (I am 1,78, which is too tall for gymnastics from a certain level on). I then changed to long-distance running and Tennis, which I also liked a lot. But in 2002 a friend of mine took me to a climbing gym and I knew from the beginning, that this is my sport!

I slowly improved until a level of 6c and then in 2008, I met Chris, who is my husband today. He climbed all his life and became a very good mentor and trainer for me, so I could push my climbing levels really fast and in 2014 I climbed my first 8a. I was already 44 then! Until now I climbed 54 routes 8a and harder. My husband and I love climbing all over the world together and since I improved over the years, we can climb in the same projects now, which is really a gift.

We are both over 50 now and still love to always have new challenges in climbing and quite frequently I can climb 8a and 8a+ like last week in the Dolomites with the routes Il risanatore plus (8a) and Supermegabastun (8a). For that, we are very grateful and hope that we can go on like this for many more years. But the most important is to have always fun with it together… 😉

Last week in the Dolomites we also met Cathy Wagner and Seb. I was very inspired by them and it is very impressive to me, how many hard routes Cathy climbed in her climbing life, which is much longer than mine. And especially to see that they are still so motivated after so many years of climbing was really great to see. I hope it will be the same with my husband and me for many more years.

As a Cloud Engineer at Vertical-Life you will be a part of a passionate and hard-working team which manages mission critical infrastructure, ensuring its stability, security and efficiency. In this role you will continuously improve our platform, automate whenever possible, collaborate with other teams, understand their specifics and enable them to deploy and operate their code in different environments. You will take ownership of infrastructure automation, be reliable and have an excellent level of systems and technical knowledge backed up by hands-on experience.

Requirements
- Comprehensive knowledge of security and web infrastructure on cloud based applications
- Good understanding of Linux/Unix
- Proven experience with GCP or alternatively AWS or Azure
- Hands-on experience in container technologies (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Experience in scaling web applications
- Experience in monitoring and troubleshooting cloud applications
- Passion to continuously learn new things
- Fluent verbal and written English

Nice to have
- Experience with IaC tools like Terraform
- Knowledge on databases (MySQL, Redis, ElasticSearch)
- Experience in building CI/CD pipelines
- Experience with multi-cloud strategies
- Experience with messaging systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ, ActiveMQ)

What we offer
- A full-time position in our office in Bressanone, South Tyrol (Dolomites / Italy); remote collaboration is possible
- The opportunity to develop yourself personally in a responsible role
- A unique, dynamic working environment
- Flexible working hours
- Sports offer and benefits with various partner companies

Sounds like you?
Great, we would love to hear from you! Please send your CV and application to [email protected].

About us:
We are a team of roughly 35 people from more than 12 countries that share the common goal of creating software and digital solutions. Our office is located in Brixen, South Tyrol, but some of us work remotely and visit sporadically. We have five main products - the Smart Climbing Gym software, NO-Q, the result service, 8a.nu, and the Vertical-Life App.

See other job openings at our website.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo, who previously has done 59 routes 9a and harder, has done Le Cadre Nouvelle Version (9a) in Céüse. Adam Ondra did the FA in 2010, avoiding a chipped hold of an 8c. (c) Adri Martinez

“Last summer I gave the route a lot of tries being in very bad shape and I always fell at the cross over. This season, in my most tired session and in my 4th try I could do that dynamic move and reach the chain.”

Mathieu Bouyoud, who previously has put up 15 routes 9a and 9a+, has done the FA of To do list (8c+) in La Balme de Yenne. “I bolted this line last year just after I climbed Team frisouille (9a+). A white wall very technical. I made around 30 sessions on this one.”

Alex Megos, who was #3 in Briancon, reports on Insta that he has made the FA of Ratstaman Vibrations 9b in Céüse. The steep, 35m line was bolted by Chris Sharma some ten years ago and has been tried by many top climbers. Last year, Alex tried it but the actual process started three weeks ago after the Chamonix WC. After five projecting days, he took a break in order to do the Briancon WC. Upon returning to Céüse, he did it on his second day.

“The route is relatively short. Only about 25 moves until it's basically over. It starts with tensiony moves on crimps and gastons which lead into this crazy sideways dyno from a toe hook. After that you have a small rest and a few more hard moves leading up to the second crux. The second crux is a low percentage move from an undercling to a small 3 finger slot. I think I fell there 10-15 times.”

What is next? European Championships 😂. Professional preparation here in Ceüse 👌🏼.

Advertorial: At the age of 41, Spaniard Patxi Usobiaga has achieved a lot. He looks back on a long, successful career as a professional rock climber, sport climber and boulderer. He has won two Lead Climbing World Cups in a row and climbed 267 routes in grades 8a to 9a+ during his career, 158 of them "onsight." He was the first climber to succeed in climbing an 8c+ route onsight (Bizi Euskaraz, in Etxauri, 2007).

With the Deuter Gravity Motion he gets fit for all his climbing tours. Besides his family, he loves nothing more than hanging out on the rock: "It's a way to find my happiness and realize myself. We all need something to fight for, a reason to improve and maybe become a better person. I manage to do that when I'm climbing. And so it has become my passion that I am dedicated to."

Watch the video and here is the blog.

Felipe Camargo has made the FA of Avenida Brazil, a 280m route with difficulties up to 8c in Gruta Casa de Pedra (BRA), the largest cave mouth in the world. The Brazilian had to wait four years to get official permission to bolt and then he and a selected team started bolting and cleaning it ground up. The ascent took 18 hours with no falls and there is a 26 min. documentary coming soon. The grades are 6, 6, 8b, 8b+, 8b, 8c, 7c and 7b+. " I started climbing at 9 pm to avoid the heat and I climbed till 3 pm. We slept on the top of the 4th pitch on porta ledges, where we also waited for the sun until 12 am to leave the wall. We finished climbing at 18:00." (c) Gabriel Tarso

They have bolted another six routes and the potential is almost endless as there are several similar caves in the area. The only problem is that the walk-in is nearly 90 min uphill. Others teams will also be able to bolt once regulations with the Park administrators are ironed out. The 31-year-old has previously done seven routes 9a to 9b, a couple of 8Cs and also some hard multi-pitches including Corazón de ensueño (8c). As a 16- and 17- year old he participated in seven World Cups and one WCH always placing within the top 35. In other words, Felipe's overall skills and talent as a climber have been vetted. His impact on the Brazilian scene has been profound thanks to his efforts bolting routes and exploring new bouldering areas.

The 35th edition of the Arco Rock Master started of with the Boulder KO, where the last climbers are eliminated after each round. On the last boulder, Chaehyun Seo flashed her fourth straight boulder winning ahead of Laura Rogora, who did it on her second try, and Jessica Pilz. In the men's category, Jakob Schubert was the only one who flashed the the last boulder winning ahead of Filip Schenk, who did it on his second attempt. Stefano Ghisolfi was third.

Seo: ”Rock Master was my dream and I had a lot of fun. I’m so proud of flashing all the problems; let’s see what’s happening tonight!”
She referred to the Duel, where the athletes Speed climb a very steep route, around 7b+ for the girls and 7c+ for the boys. Seo won the bronze race against Camilla Moroni and then Jessica Pilz won a tight race against Vita Lukan. (Strangely, in the picture you can actually see that Vita touched the pad ahead of Jessica. Also the commentator thought Vita won commenting, ”I am not sure what happened to the timing pad?)

Then Jakob Schubert secured his second victory by doing the fastest time of the night beating Michael Piccolruaz by a big margin. In the bronze race, Filip Schenk won ahead of Martin Stranik.

Max Bertone, who did his first 8c+ at age 12, has done La prophétie des grenouilles (9a), giving it a personal 8c+ grade. “A bit deceived that it couldn't be my first 9a but still a great line ! Thanks to Jorg Verheoven for the support at the previous ascent when I fell on the last move. This morning it was dry and windy. Good vibes! The second session was the good one. Between the two sessions Jorg Verheoven and Jules Marchaland sent the route and called it 8c+. Having little experience in this grade, I proposed 8c+ too.”

Could you tells us a little more about climbing this route and what's next on your agenda?
I started this project last year. I had little time and managed to send the first section of this route which is a 8c. Than I spent two more sessions in the second part and I fell on the crux at the top. This year, I knew I would succeed because I quickly managed to pass the crux at the top of the route.

I only have 2 days left in Briancon because I have to prepare for the European Bouldering Championship in Graz, so I will do some easier routes :)