Zangerl and Larcher Send Two Hard Eiger Routes
Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher have climbed two of the most difficult routes on the Eiger’s north face with tops of Deep Blue Sea and Magic Mushroom.
The two are off a strong trip to Canada where they both sent The Path 5.14R at Back of the Lake.
They are the first team to send both famous Magic Mushroom climbs, the one on the Eiger and the one on El Capitan which they climbed last year.
The Eiger’s Magic Mushroom was first climbed by Roger Schaeli and Christoph Hainz by aid and freed by Stephen Siegrist, Ralph Weber and Thomas Theurillat at hard 5.13a.
Zangerl and Larcher both send the route on their first time up it, but had to work on the three crux pitches.
After their climb, Larcher said, “We started early to climb this 20 pitch beautiful route, which ends exactly on the famous base jumper’s exit (the mushroom). We were happy to stand on the top before the storm arrived and after having both free climbed it.”
On Deep Blue Sea, which was first climbed by Reto Ruhstaller and Bernd Rathmayr nearly 20 years ago, Larcher and Zangerl onsighted every 5.12c pitch on the 250-metre route.
Some might remember when Dean Potter free-soloed the route with a parachute on his back about 10 years ago.
Zangerl and Larcher attempted a third route on the Eiger but were shut down by bad weather.
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