Barbara Zangerl repeats Meltdown in Yosemite

Austria's Barbara Zangerl has repeated Meltdown (5.14c/8c+) in Yosemite, USA. First ascended by Beth Rodden in 2008, this thin trad crack is considered one of the hardest single pitch trad lines in the world. It lay unrepeated for a decade until Carlo Traversi finally made the second ascent in 2018, while Zangerl's parter Jacopo Larcher made the third ascent in November 2022.

Zangerl’s success comes during her second visit to Yosemite to attempt the route, having previously worked it in November 2022. Speaking to planetmountain after her successful redpoint on Saturday 28 October, she explained "The difficult thing about Meltdown is that the route has extremely bad footholds... usually I slipped off because I couldn't maintain enough power and body tension to stay on the footholds. It's definitely a power endurance test... exciting right up to the top... and very difficult to place Camelots and nuts because you need so much body tension. In the end I even taped my cams to my harness because I didn't want to waste any time, like this I just ripped them off and placed them straight away."

Zangerl, who's Yosemite big wall resume is second to none, concluded "Such an iconic line and big thanks to Beth Rodden for the inspiration, you are a legend!"

Zangerl is sponsored by Black Diamond, La Sportiva, Vibram and Powerbar.