Julia Pfanzelt (52) and Cathy Wagner (56) are in their prime
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.
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Cathy Wagner has during the last 12 months done eight 8a+, out of which four in 2022. Her first 8a, was done in 1994! In total, the 56-year-old has done 844 routes 8a to 8b which should be most of all females and also her grade pyramid should be for the record books. It should be noted that a large …
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Cathy Wagner has done American Project (8a+) in Becò d'Ajal giving it a personal 8a grade. "A superb overhanging and physical route made possible thanks to the (difficult) placement of a right knee in what constitutes the crux. Otherwise, it's a big forced cross on a bad RH clip with a leaning lolot…
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844 routes 8a and harder by Cathy Wagner (56)
Cathy Wagner has during the last 12 months done eight 8a+, out of which four in 2022. Her first 8a, was done in 1994! In total, the 56-year-old has done 844 routes 8a to 8b which should be most of all females and also her grade pyramid should be for the record books. It should be noted that a large …
American Project 8a (+) by Cathy Wagner (57)
Cathy Wagner has done American Project (8a+) in Becò d'Ajal giving it a personal 8a grade. "A superb overhanging and physical route made possible thanks to the (difficult) placement of a right knee in what constitutes the crux. Otherwise, it's a big forced cross on a bad RH clip with a leaning lolot…
Ces démons niaquent 8a (+) by Cathy Wagner (57)
Cathy Wagner has done Ces démons niaquent (8a+) in Précipice de Corbière, giving it a personal 8a grade. "HAPPY! Outstanding route, where many technical kneebars around single tufa allowed me to compensate for my lack of the physical strength. But even with that, it was not at all given, especially …
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