BURSTAustrian climber Babsi Zangerl and Italy’s Jacopo Larcher, two of the world’s most experienced big-wall free climbers, recently made the second and third free ascents of Déjà (5.14c, 400m) on the south face of the Kirchlispitzen in the Rätikon.
Zangerl climbed the route on July 6, making the first female ascent and, according to available records, the first recorded female ascent of a 5.14c multi-pitch route. Several days later, Larcher followed, climbing the entire route without a fall.
“It’s where I tried my first real multi-pitch project,” said Zangerl. “We’ve climbed so many routes there together over the years, so Déjà felt like the perfect project for us.” The story of Déjà goes back more than 30 years to when Andres Lietha and Michi Wyser made the first ascent in 1992, free climbing much of it, but the fifth pitch remained a project for more than 25 years.
For Larcher, the story began in 2015, when Fabian Buhl invited him to give the route a try. At the time, it had never been completely freed, and neither climber knew whether the fifth pitch was possible. “There’s always something exciting about trying something that hasn’t been done before,” said Larcher. “You don’t know if it is possible, and every move you manage to free climb feels like a little gift.”
They spent several days working out the moves and eventually, through some teamwork, found a sequence that linked the technical moves together. The small, razor-sharp holds were tough on the skin, and perfect conditions were needed to attempt it, but the climb could be freed. Larcher moved on to other projects, while Buhl continued working on Déjà. In 2019, he completed the first free ascent, finally putting to rest one of the longest-standing projects on the historic wall.
Larcher returned with Zangerl in 2025 and fell in love with it, particularly the fifth pitch. “It’s such a unique pitch, extremely hard and sustained all the way to the belay,” said Zangerl. “You can fall almost anywhere. It’s probably the hardest single pitch we have ever tried on a multi-pitch.”
The fifth pitch goes at 8c+ [5.14c], and while the sharp holds make it a challenge, the south face of the Kirchlispitzen becomes extremely hot in summer, making conditions even more demanding. They realized they would have only a few good attempts before their skin was too damaged to continue.
Eventually, they adjusted their schedule, climbing either very early in the morning or late in the evening. The access road to Grüscher Älpli was also closed during the week for maintenance, so they approached from the Austrian side by e-bike. “It required a bit more effort, but it became part of the adventure,” said Larcher.
“We would often get home at one or two in the morning. Almost every day became a little mission. It felt like real adventure climbing, even though normally the wall is quite easy to access. It gave us a completely different experience of a place we already know so well.”
The difficulties continue well above the crux, with pitch 11 being another obstacle, which both climbers said is around 8b [5.13d]. It’s sustained and finishes with a hard boulder. “It never really gets easy,” said Larcher. “Even after the crux there is still a lot of climbing ahead of you, and the final hard pitch is very sustained, with a difficult boulder right at the end.”
After climbing the route once from bottom to top and spending time rehearsing the upper pitches, they decided to make individual ground-up attempts, with one climber leading every pitch while the other belayed.
Zangerl went first on July 6, and until that morning, she had never climbed the crux without falling. She started strong but slipped off a few times high up, and by her third attempt, fatigue was setting in. “I could feel that there wasn’t much left in the tank,” she recalled. “But somehow it was just enough. I managed to fight my way through the whole pitch.”
Reaching the belay brought a wave of stoke, but also a new sense of pressure, with the summit still a long way off. “After the crux, I was incredibly happy, but I also became nervous,” said Zanger
She climbed every remaining pitch without falling, reaching the summit in a single day. For Zangerl, the send was about far more than the grade. It came after an extended break from hard climbing following a back injury sustained in late 2025. “After such a long injury break, this route meant a lot to me,” she said. “It wasn’t only about the difficulty. It felt like a real comeback.”
Her redpoint was the second free ascent of Déjà and its first female ascent. Based on currently available records, it also appears to be the first recorded female ascent of an 8c+ [5.14c] multi-pitch route.
In 2009, Italian climber Jenny Lavarda made the first female ascent of Solo per vecchi guerrieri in the Dolomites, a multi-pitch route whose crux was originally reported at 8c+/9a. However, subsequent repeaters proposed significantly lower grades for the pitch, most recently 8b+ [5.14a]. Based on the grades currently associated with the two routes, Zangerl’s ascent of Déjà is therefore believed to be the first recorded female ascent of a multi-pitch route graded 8c+.
Several days later, it was Larcher’s turn, but he was nervous at the start. It was warm, and he was still tired after a long week of routesetting for a competition. His expectations were low, but as soon as he started climbing, everything changed. “I felt relaxed, fast and confident,” he said.
Cloud cover kept much of the south face shaded, providing good conditions for the ascent. He moved quickly through the route, including the crux, and climbed every pitch without falling. At 11:30 a.m., he reached the top. After more than a decade of connection to the route, and years after first attempting the unfinished project with Buhl, Larcher had finally completed Déjà himself.
“It wasn’t only about the route itself,” said Larcher. “It was about the whole adventure we had shared along the way.”
Zangerl and Larcher on Déjà
Déjà goes at: 6a+ (5.10b), 6c+ (5.11b), 6b+ (5.10d), 7c (5.12d), 8c+ (5.14c), 7c+ (5.13a), 6b+ (5.10d), 6b+ (5.10d), 7c+ (5.13a), 7a (5.11d), 8a+ (5.13c), and 6b+ (5.10d).
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