Angela Eiter

She started climbing at age eleven when her school offered her the chance to try the sport. Her parents accompanied her to the climbing gym in Imst. At fifteen, she climbed her first indoor 8a (5.13b). In 2002, having reached the age of sixteen, she began to participate in the World Cup lead climbing. In 2003, she won her first Cup race at Aprica. Since then she has won three World Cups in a row: in 2004,[4] in 2005, winning eight out of nine events[5] and in 2006, winning seven out of ten events.[6]

She also won four world championships in the lead climbing specialty: the 2005 edition in Munich,[7] the 2007 edition in Avilés,[8] the 2011 edition in Arco,[9] and the 2012 edition in Paris.[10]

For this outstanding performance was awarded the La Sportiva Competition Award in 2006.[11]

In September 2008, during the third round of the World Cup in Bern, she had a serious accident damaging her left shoulder, for which she underwent arthroscopic surgery.[12] She had to prematurely end the season and deal with nine months' rehabilitation. She started to compete the following July at the Climbing World Championship 2009 in Qinghai.

On September 6, 2014, Eiter climbed the 9a (5.14d) route Hades at Nassereith, Austria. She is the sixth woman to climb this grade or higher.[13][14]

On October 22, 2017 she climbed La Planta de Shiva (Villanueva del Rosario, Spain), widely considered to be a 9b (5.15b) route, becoming the world's first female to climb that grade.[2][3]

In 2020, she did the first ascent of Madame Ching (which she named after Ching Shih) in Imst, Austria, and suggested the grade of 9b (5.15b) for it, which would make it the first 5.15b first ascent by a woman, and the hardest first ascent by a woman at the time.[15][16]

Notable first free ascents