In this week's Friday Night Video, we get front row seats to Babsi Zangerl's historic flash of Freerider on El Capitan. Setting off on a ground-up attempt this past November, Babsi and her partner Jacopo spent three days battling polished slabs, offwidths, and cryptic sequences. In the end, Babsi topped out as the first person to flash El Cap.
What a great film! Both of them come across as being such nice people, and the contemplative mood throughout was exactly right for the quiet, multi-day experience of gradually getting beasted on a big wall.
it is great, isn't it. Two people very much into the experience and refreshing not to have all the shouting and screaming that can accompany such acheivements, but no less intense for it. I had to get my phone out at the end to check that she really was the first person to flash a route on el Cap, it was that understated. This was just before it appeared in the end credits.