Bernd Zangerl and Anam Cara, Silvretta bouldering

Better late than never: just before the start of winter Bernd Zangerl from Austria sent his hardest boulder problem ever, a four-move explosion called Anam Cara located high in the Silvretta mountain region.

Zangerl explains the 30° roof problem as follows: "the line is a dream. So logical, clear, without compromises... Every move is hard and doing that crazy undercut move to the top is... the most brutal thing I've ever done. Anam Cara is the highlight of my climbing career and linking it was like a dream come true."

Zangerl is best known for his first repeat of Dreamtime and subsequent first ascents of some unrepeated Font 8c's such as "Viva La Evolution" and "Memento" and has slowly but surely specialised in short testpieces where pure power, and not stamina, is the essence.

When asked about this extreme specialisation, Bernd replied exhaustively: "in reality I try to climb "all styles". During my travels I usually repeat nice boulders set by other climbers, and I obvioulsy also have to try other hard problems so as to able to compare them with my own. Usually though I try to realise my own "visions", my own projects. These are short boulders: I'm simply fascinated by really difficult single moves. On a 20 move Font 8c I can usually immediatly do all the moves, so it's just a question of stamina... and this motivates me less at the moment. I like trying things where in the beginning you don't even know if it's physically possible."