Lara Neumeier Completes the Alpine Trilogy: Three Famous 5.14 Multi-Pitch Routes

Experienced big-wall free climber Lara Neumeier has completed the Alpine Trilogy, one of the most respected lists in alpine sport climbing, with her send of Des Kaisers Neue Kleider in Austria’s Wilder Kaiser. In doing so, she became the second woman ever to complete the trilogy, and the first to do so within a single year.

The Alpine Trilogy consists of: Silbergeier (5.14a, 6 pitches) in Switzerland’s Rätikon, End of Silence (5.14a, 11 pitches) in Germany’s Berchtesgaden Alps, and Des Kaisers Neue Kleider (5.14a, 9 pitches) in Austria’s Wilder Kaiser.

After climbing Silbergeier and End of Silence in 2025, Neumeier turned her attention to Des Kaisers Neue Kleider, hoping to complete the trilogy before the end of the year. She spent several days on the route during autumn 2025 and believed success was within reach.

“By November 2025, I had spent enough time on the route to know it was possible,” Neumeier said. “However, the season was coming to a close, it started snowing, the days were getting shorter, and the days became too short to give it a proper try from the ground.”

With winter conditions arriving, she decided to postpone the project until the following season. “I made the tough decision to walk away from the route for 2026,” she said. “I went to Nicaragua to surf and recover, and came back to training in January with Des Kaisers Neue Kleider as my main goal for the spring.”

Returning to the route in late May 2026, Neumeier spent several days re-familiarising herself with the pitches. Conditions remained challenging, with fresh snow, rain, and wet rock affecting progress. “The first day was cold and crispy, but the second day it rained and the whole wall was wet,” she said. “We barely climbed, and the only thing we managed to achieve was to check the first meters of the last crux pitch.”

A week later, she made a full attempt from the ground, climbing through the first seven pitches before falling on the upper 5.14a crux pitch. “I’d burned too much energy on the lower pitches and by the time I got there, the body tension that this pitch demands just wasn’t there anymore,” she said.

Heavy rain in the days before her final attempt created uncertainty about conditions on the route. Neumeier also faced the pressure of completing what she described as her first major project as a full-time professional climber while being filmed by a production crew. “This was my first big project as a professional athlete,” she said. “I was acutely aware that this might be the last possible day to complete the Alpine Trilogy within 12 months.”

On June 4, the lower section of the route went smoothly despite damp rock on one of the key crux sequences. By mid-afternoon, Neumeier and Wohlleben had reached the belay below the final crux pitch. “This was the pitch that had stopped me last time,” she said. “I knew exactly how much body tension was required.”

After a lengthy rest, she climbed the pitch on her first try. “When I clipped that anchor I knew I would make it to the top,” she said. The pair reached the summit at approximately 7 p.m. “Relieved, happy, proud — and the Alpine Trilogy finally done.”

Neumeier is now the 11th person known to have completed the challenge and only the second woman after Barbara Zangerl. The trilogy links three landmark routes established by Beat Kammerlander, Thomas Huber, and Stefan Glowacz, all influential figures in the development of hard alpine climbing during the 1990s.

Reflecting on the project, Neumeier said the challenge had been about more than climbing three difficult routes. “It was my first big project as a professional athlete and it taught me what that actually means,” she said. “How to handle pressure, and how to show up when a film crew is on the wall with you.”

She described the trilogy as the biggest and most demanding project of her climbing career to date. “These three routes felt like a test,” she said. “Having passed it gives me the confidence to think bigger.”

Neumeier’s Alpine Trilogy journey has been documented in a forthcoming film supported by Arc’teryx and Red Bull. The film is expected to be released later in 2026.

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