Climbing
Climbing ace Angy Eiter's new mission: to develop epic routes for all
Legendary climbing star Angela Eiter's latest goal is to create brand new routes by opening as yet unknown rock faces. She reveals all about the idea right here.
Even after setting milestone records of the first female to climb 9b (La Planta de Shiva, 5.15b) grade in 2017 and the first ascent of a 9b route (Madame Ching) in 2020, there's no full stop to Angy Eiter’s climbing desires. The craze of 'firsts' is quite evident in the climbing community and she's now taking it to the next level. It's no more firsts of historical lines for her, but rather getting her fingers on truly untouched rock - opening her own lines and climbing them before anyone else.
Since 2019, the record-breaker has been setting up new lines in a crag in Buzet in Croatia with her husband and climbing partner, Bernie Ruech. She's now completed a few first ascents on the pristine rock. Eiter is fond of FAs and loves to explore unseen possibilities, even though it comes with a lot of failures and falls, as she explains.
Angela Eiter - Zauberfee
© Martin Hanslmayr / Red Bull Content Pool
“My partner and I did the hard drilling because bolting and first ascents are relevant in the climbing community. And the charm of first ascents is very important to me. We also hopefully wanted to develop a new crag for the climbing world.”
The virgin wall is a small cave of 20m in height with a steep overhang. They've named the crag 'Bat Cave' which still has two open projects. There are 10 routes between 6c to 8c in grade range. “The routes are athletic type, very powerful with a mix of holds," Eiter explains. "One project I call ‘Wings for Life’ is open for strong, new-generation climbers. I am excited to see who'll get to the top in the future.”
Angela Eiter is happy to hang
© Javier Pérez López-Triviño/ASP/Red Bull Content Pool
However, Buzet isn't the first crag that Eiter has christened. Her first bolting experience was in 2015 when she paired with her husband to build a crag called Nifada in Greece. With this bolting project, in just two years, she'd drastically leveled up her outdoor climbing game after her retirement from sports climbing competitions in 2013. She found a new interest in bolting, creating her own projects, and testing her limits. After tasting the dust of virgin rock she didn't look back.
Madame Ching, her second 5.15b, was her foremost endeavour towards “building from the unknown”. The line was bolted by her husband, seemingly a project specially made for her. In 2020, Eiter sent the route and set another landmark of FA in her career. She then attained FA of a brand new route called Schatzinsel (which means 'treasure island') near Austria in 2020. After the success, she said, “Climbing provides me with plenty of opportunities to live out my love for climbing in different ways. Usually, I test my limits on existing sport climbs, as a mere consumer. In 2015 I found the desire to develop my own line. Now the urge to search for an untouched wall appeared again.”
Following this desire she's now set on the path of drilling along with expanding her potential and advancing her grade. In addition to setting up climbing areas, Eiter is known for frequent contributions in building inclusive climbing communities. She actively promotes sustainable climbing practices and is a member of the Green Climbing Initiative. She truly understands the need of eco-friendly methods to protect the environment. Before drilling metals into the rock she's aware of the placement and does it cautiously. “I believe that rock is limited, rather it is finite," she expains. "So I take care of where I bolt my routes and how I drill the bolts."
Charting the sequence up the climb
© Javier Pérez López-Triviño/ASP/Red Bull Content Pool
One project I call ‘Wings for Life’ is open for strong, new-generation climbers. I'm excited to see who'll get to the top
Being an empowered climber, she's striving in numerous ways to enable the climbing world, too. With the addition of Bat Cave, she assures there'll be fun and challenging routes for everyone and hopes they'll be well appreciated.