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(S)ENDING THE NEVERENDING BEAT KAMMERLANDER’S NEVERENDING STORY (5.14a) IN THE RÄTIKON RANGE OF THE CENTRAL ALPS SAW ONLY ONE REPEAT IN 25 YEARS. PUT UP IN NEAR-PERFECT STYLE, THE ROUTE HAD SCARED AWAY MOST OF TODAY’S ELITE UNTIL TWO WOMEN TOOK IT ON IN SEPTEMBER, 2015. THIS IS THEIR STORY, AND A LOOK BACK AT PART OF CLIMBING HISTORY THAT WAS SO AHEAD OF ITS TIME IT WAS LARGELY IGNORED. BY PIOTR DROZDZ AND MONIKA JEDRZEJEWSKA Beat Kammerlander in 1994 on Silbergeier (5.14a) on the IV Kirchlispitze. This six-pitch line checked in with pitches of 5.14a, 5.13d and 5.13c, and was established ground up, with the bolts drilled on lead by Kammerlander. Inspired by John Bachar, Kammerlander adhered to a strict ethic that kept bolts to a minimum—Silbergeier’s falls average 30 feet. Kammerlander redpointed the line after eight days of effort, sealing his career as a professional climber. PETER MATHIS 12 | ASCENT 2016 ASCENT 2016 | 13 Nina Caprez, belayed by Barbara Zangerl who also completed the route, on Unendliche Geschichte, or Neverending Story (5.14a) on the Seventh Kirchlispitze, Rätikon, Graubünden, Switzerland. The route took the accomplished duo 10 days of work, then a day each to redpoint. Kammerlander established the line in 1991. At the time it was the world’s hardest multi-pitch climb, and even today is rarely repeated. While many Americans assume that (W) ground-up, onsight, multi-pitch free climbing reached its apotheosis sometime before the heretical influence of European sport climbers in the 1980s, the truth is that the purest and most difficult multi-pitch free climbs were going up in the Alps right at the same time. The epicenter of the movement was a range called the Rätikon, on the borders of Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The cutting edge was a 1,400-foot south-facing wall of near-perfect limestone on the Kirlichspitze towers toward the center of the range. Martin Scheel, a Swiss climber, threw down the gauntlet in 1984 when he established Amarcord (5.12c) on the seventh Kirlichspitze tower ground up, with no previewing, and using sketchy hooks only to drill the rare bolt. We laud John Bachar’s Bachar-Yerian (5.11c) as an exemplary performance, but just three years later Scheel employed the same committing style on a nine-pitch climb four grades harder. At the time, Amarcord featured some of the hardest moves ever done on a rope, but Scheel would up the ante even further over the next couple of years, using the same pure approach to push the level to 5.13a with his 1988 route Accacia. The next year a young Austrian climber, Beat Kammerlander, arrived at the Seventh Kirlichspitze and added his own route, emulating Scheel’s near-perfect style. New Age (5.13c) was only the third multi- pitch route in the Alps to get the grade of 8a (5.13b) or above. In 1990, Kammerlander equipped the 12-pitch Unendliche Geschichte (Neverending Story) and redpointed it in 1991. Neverending Story, at 5.14a, was the hardest multi-pitch route in the world at the time, just a tick below the hardest single-pitch routes. The Neverending Story remains a powerful symbol of its time; of the unique art of climbing, physical and mental strength, and ultra-committing style. Until last year the route had been repeated only once, in 2008 by the Italian powerhouse Pietro dal Prá. The route’s reputation for cryptic, hold-less slab sequences and bolts guarded by 70-foot run-outs dissuaded all but the boldest climbers, and even these were invariably turned back, tail tucked between their legs. Nearly 25 years after its first ascent, the 1,400- foot Neverending Story remains a formidable test piece. “Beat and I were very happy to hear that the girls had been trying the route,” says Pietro dal Prá. “The girls” refer to Barbara ROBERT BOESCH “Babsi” Zangerl (28) and Nina Caprez (30), who last year took on the mythical and fearsome Neverending Story. Zangerl, an 14 | ASCENT 2016 ASCENT 2016 | 15 “NO CHALK, NO VISIBLE HOLDS OR FOOTHOLDS AND THAT UNIQUE, BOULDERY YET Austrian, is no stranger to breaking ground. In 2008 she became the first woman to climb a V13 with her ascent of Pura Vida in TRICKY STYLE THAT Magic Wood, Switzerland. A back tweak the next year removed her MAKES YOU FEEL from bouldering—doctors said the impact would aggravate her disc WEAK ON 5.10d injury—so she abruptly switched gears, with brilliant results Over the PITCHES.” next few years she climbed 5.13d crack and 5.14c sport, and became the first woman to complete the infamous Alpine Trilogy—Kaisers neue Kleider, Silbergeier, End of Silence—all runout 5.14a multi- pitch routes on big alpine walls. Silbergeier is a Beat Kammerlander testpiece in the Rätikon, and Zangerl made the second female ascent soon after Nina Caprez’s. Caprez, a Swiss climber, is also brave and accomplished. Her best ascents include 5.14c sport climbs and big walls like Silbergeier and Orbayu in the Picos de Europa of Spain. She tried Orbaya (5.14b) last year, redpointing all the pitches but not sending it in one push. Caprez and Zangerl share a similar outlook. They’re both up for adventure and knew the Rätikon game, but the Neverending Story was a big step up, over 700 feet longer than Silbergeier and with a Upper left: Nina Caprez und Barbara Zangerl at the Kletterhütte (climber’s reputation for turning back the world’s best. hut) Pardutz, Rätikon. Left: The landscape and walls of Rätikon are equally in my eyes there is no difference between girls and boys, especially spectacular. Above: Zangerl high on Neverending Story. Lengthy runouts such It was Zangerl who first had the idea to try Neverending Story and as this one are typical. on vertical and technical faces like the ones in the Rätikon. There passed her vision to Caprez. is only one difference that matters and it is between the first ascent “With Beat we were shooting the Silbergeier part for the Alpine and all that follow. Redpointers are always in the privileged position, Trilogy film, and he had an interview about the route and climbing they already know that the route is possible.” in the Rätikon in general, and at some point he went on to talk about Zangerl says: “Right now, first female ascents are more like a Unendliche,” says Zangerl. “He said he did not know why it had had of bouldering on a route,” Zangerl says. “Being scared, facing the marketing thing. In the case of important or historic climbs, such only one repeat ascent, considering the beauty of not only the route unknown. Good teamwork is the thing that literally pushes you a reference seems justifiable but otherwise, for example in sport but also the wall itself. Indeed, the wall does look amazing. Even while toward your best performance and up to the top. And that was climbing, it’s rather irrelevant. And definitely, this is never a reason climbing some easier lines in the vicinity you just can’t help glancing exactly what I have experienced with Nina. Not to mention all the why I try a route.” in its direction. It was always my goal to get on it at least once.” fun we had together!” The next morning, September 8, brought cold temps, with the Caprez grew up in Küblis, the village next to the range, an area Eventually, their efforts, combined with some clues from holds either icy or soaking wet and the team had to wait for the first where Martin Scheel and Beat Kammerlander are referred to as Kammerlander, started paying off, and after 10 days of attempts, two pitches to dry. They might not be the hardest pitches but low- heroes. With a quicklink on her harness to use in case of retreat, the Caprez and Zangerl sent every single pitch individually. grade pitches in Rätikon are never easy, and long runouts do not Swiss climber was always aware that climbing in the Rätikon is like “For various reasons we had to take a three-week break,” Caprez make them easier—definitely not for a warm-up. entering a completely new dimension where you might need to bail Zangerl says. “We didn’t have any beta. One of my mottos is less says. “Then Babsi gave me a call and said she was ready to try again. Caprez was supposed to go first. mid-route. Dealing with the unknown is part of the game and exactly information equals more adventure and I think that’s the coolest I had been traveling a lot in the meantime and felt pretty exhausted “I was really stressed,” she says. “I got close to saying, ‘Babsi, go what makes climbing there so special. way, although I admit that sometimes beta does help! After having but decided to have a four-day rest, which hardly ever happens in my for it because I can’t.’ But then I put my climbing shoes on, grabbed “It’s pure climbing,” Caprez says. “No chalk, no visible holds or been on the route three times we thought maybe we should give up. case, and I started recovering.” the first holds, and the whole world disappeared. The bad feeling footholds and that unique, bouldery yet tricky style that makes you But every time we ended up saying ‘OK, let’s give it one more go, one They met in the Rätikon in September and discussed the options, was gone.

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