Just under two weeks ago, Babsi Zangerl announced that she had made the first one-push no-fall flash ascent of Freerider, on El Capitan.

It's an ascent that is hard to comprehend in terms of difficulty, so we asked Pete Whittaker - who flashed every individual pitch of Freerider, barring the Boulder problem - to provide some much needed context for this historic achievement:

We got in touch with Babsi shortly after her ascent to ask about how the flash ascent came about, why she wore three shoes during the Monster Offwidth pitch, and which moments had her feeling the pressure:

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Babsi, congratulations! A little while has passed since you made your flash ascent of Freerider, how are you feeling?

I am feeling great! Just arrived back home. It is still hard to believe for myself that I had such an unforgettable trip to Yosemite. Feeling very grateful about it.

You've done a lot of climbing on El Capitan, it must have been hard to climb so many routes on El Capitan without ever climbing through the same ground that Freerider covers! Were you always saving Freerider for the Flash, and how did you go about avoiding Freerider during your many days on other El Capitan routes?

No, it was definitely not the goal to save Freerider for a flash. It was more about that, we were afraid to climb the Monster Offwidth, which is part of this route. Jacopo and I always avoided this because we knew that we are pretty bad in that style. The wide cracks were always very challenging to us. So we decided to climb many other lines before because those just have fit better to our style. 

But I have to say, the last couple of years it definitely got closer to us that we wanted to save Freerider for trying a flash on it. But still we didn't have much expectations, because we always had the feeling that the easier graded pitches on El Cap always felt really challenging to us. But at least we thought we could try and see how far we can get up this route without having a fall. 

How much did your experience on Yosemite's hard single-pitch routes contribute to your time on Freerider? Did every foothold feel massive after climbing Magic Line?

I think over all those years visiting the valley, we definitely got better in crack climbing, and yes Magic Line was a very good training for lay backing and standing on very tiny footholds.

The most important for Freerider, however, was to train on many wide single pitches like Generator Crack, Twilight Zone or Ahab, and of course climb many pitches in a day, that helped a lot. Doing Astroman and Rostrum in a day was a good training for it.

There are some iconic pitches on Freerider, but there are two that stick out in terms of difficulty, the Boulder Problem, and the Monster Offwidth - how did you prepare for each of them, and how did they feel during the ascent?

As I said, doing single pitch offwidth climbs helped a lot for the Monster but still it was a massive suffer fest to climb that 60m long wide crack. It didn't feel easy. 

I already felt lots of pressure to not fall off the Freeblast. It is not easy to read those slabs, and you stand on really bad footholds without having any hand holds. You simply can slip off easily there.

For the Boulder Problem it was hard to be prepared. I think we weren't, really. Jacopo got really unlucky to miss the undercling pocket just before the ninja kick move. He went first on that pitch, so he definitely had it harder. I got more information about it because Jacopo went first.

I tried to use his beta which didn't really work out, so I had to climb back and forth finding my own footholds to reach that loaf hold before the kick. I took lots of risk on that pitch. The ninja kick move was completely out of control. It felt really lucky to stick it.

Of course we watched the video of Honnold doing it. We had informations about that pitch, but still, it was a very hard one to flash.

I've heard that you and Jacopo swung leads for all the pitches except those two, which you both attempted to Lead - how did you decide who got the first go on each one, and how did that affect your approach to each of these pitches?

First of all both of us were afraid to lead the Monster, and also the Boulder problem felt like a miracle to us. We decided before we started that I would lead the Monster and Jacopo does that one on TR. The Boulder Problem we wanted to climb both on lead and Jacopo went first on that one. That was our deal. At the end I guess it was a bit easier for me because it is just more likely to fall of the Boulder.

Let's talk about the Freeblast slab - how did it feel to be climbing something so delicate with the flash on the line?

Oh I felt so much pressure on the Freeblast. I had nightmares about falling of the first two pitches the nights before we have started. The further we got without falling, it definitely got more relaxed, at least until we got to the Monster.

When I lead the tricky slab pitch…. I almost went left on the crux which would have led to a very tricky and harder sequence. I just saw that bolt on the left, and I had the feeling it was normal to go up to this bolt directly. Luckily I didn't do that and climbed more on the right and skipped that bolt, which you normally do on that pitch, but which we didn't know about! We had no specific informations about the Freeblast which made it tricky.

Who did you speak to about Freerider to gain beta beforehand, and were there any crucial bits of beta that anyone provided?

We met some people who had just climbed Freerider before us. We got informations about the Monster. I met Emily Harrington at the "Yosemite Bug restaurant", she told me about the double shoe beta on the Monster (wearing a TC Pro over another one for the right foot) to have a bigger shoe size which fits better in the Monster. Or using elbow protectors and knee protectors to climb that pitch.

I borrowed a shoe from my friend Nemo, he gave me a right shoe in size 41 which I was wearing over an 37 TC Pro. There is a little ledge at the beginning of the Monster where you can sit down and change shoes.

After Freerider I climbed the Monster again for Golden Gate without having the big shoe. I found it also ok without the double shoe beta. I guess size 37 is working well for the Monster. I think it is getting really hard if you have smaller sizes. 

A day before we started we met Honnold at the cafe and he told us about the Monster — if we would get too tired on that one, we could just lean out to the right, get our left leg twisted and stuck, to rest this way. That helped a lot as well. 

For the boulder problem we watched videos, but I was not sure if that far out ninja kick move would work for me or if I should go for a double dyno. I am really bad at doing jumps. 

Tell us a little more about the role that videos played in your ascent - how much footage of the route did you watch before going for the flash?

We watched videos about the Boulder problem, but we had no idea about many of the pitches besides Monster and the Boulder problem. So it was a mix of onsighting many pitches and flashing others. 

What gear did you take with you, and how did you decide upon it?

We knew that we have to bring number 6 for the Monster and one number 7 for the hollow flake. But we didn't have any gear beta for the other pitches. We just brought what was written in the guide book. We brought double set of small and bigger cams and a triple for the middle sized cams.

It's slightly illogical for me to ask you to compare this ascent with your hard single pitch ascents in Yosemite, like those of Magic Line and Meltdown, but how did the feeling of topping out El Cap, having flashed Freerider, compare to the feeling of topping out those shorter, but harder routes?

I really can't compare it, but the chance to flash Freerider was way, way less, compared to sending Meltdown or Magic Line.

For those two climbs I was well prepared. I worked a lot on those routes, got closer on them and I was sure it will be a matter of time to finally send them. On Freerider, I only had this single shot that was mentally definitely harder. Especially to climb so many pitches. The chance that something goes wrong is way bigger compared to the chance of everything coming together perfectly.

Even if the individual pitches on Freerider are way, way easier, the challenge was huge to me.

I imagine you felt a lot of pressure at various points on the wall, what were some of the moments where it was particularly noticeable?

There were definitely moments where I had pressure. For example falling off the first pitches, I knew that could happen to me easily, and this scared me a lot. After Jacopo fell on the Boulder problem, I was pretty sure that I would fall too. He is stronger than me, especially on face climbs.

The most pressure I had was during the last night on the wall. It felt very close, I had a lot of thoughts, and I knew it definitely wasn't in the bag. There was another hard pitch waiting up there, the Scotty Burke offwidth. I was scared about that… and even the last easy graded chimney pitch took proper effort. I went the wrong side in… and then couldn't reach the holds behind my back, to get out of the chimney, so I had to climb back down and up again with the right side facing the main holds to execute the chimney. That was just the second last pitch. 

Jacopo was just a single fall away from making a flash ascent of the route as well, which is an incredible achievement. How difficult was it to recover from the frustration of the fall, and regain focus, both for Jacopo as he supported you, and for you, as you continued your flash attempt?

That was really hard! He didn't get the undercling the right way. There was a pocket underneath which he didn't see. Then he could't do the ninja kick and fell off. It was so unlucky for him, and I really felt sad about the whole situation, but at the same time I wanted to use my chance and give everything for my try. 

Jacopo still supported me all the way up…. For him all the pressure was over, but of course also afterwards he was not in the best mood. Which is very understandable. 

I still see the whole thing as a team ascent. Without him it would have been not the same. We worked as a team, and supported each other on the wall. How he stayed psyched for me and didn't give that up meant a lot to me. His dedication and belief in me were crucial to make it happen. I feel very thankful for all the support.

Finally, aside from reaching the top, what was the most memorable moment on the route?

The most memorable thing about the whole ascent was the feeling when I stuck the kick move. I had the feeling of falling but still somehow didn't.

Also the commitment and psych for climbing we both had up there, that felt great. It was definitely an unforgettable moment in my climbing career.