Angela Eiter

Seven important points in my climbing career:

1. Thanks to climbing I learnt how to deal with life. In the past nine years I had to struggle against some defeats in competitions and injuries. These parts of my life were very important for me because they made me stronger. As a sportist you have to consider that you can´t be successful all the time, because life goes always up and down. Sport climbing made me feel stronger not only physically but as well mentally and  this helps me to manage other difficulties in other parts of my life too.

2. According to my point of view climbing is more than just a sport. I really like it to travel around with my fahter and my boyfriend to climb on different rocks. There are so many nice climbing spots throughout Europe, where you meet interesting people and see great landscapes. This is always a training and a holiday in one, because you are trying hard routes on your training days and on your rest days you walk around to get to know the place.

3. This year (2006) on May 1, I was in Arco together with my boyfriend, where I climbed the long route La Pietra Murata 8b+ on the third attempt. I won´t forget this route, in paticular because of a bruise that I got from a strange kneebar at the beginning!

4. I also have some great memories with competition climbing. The most successful and most memorable competition that I won was the Rock Master 2003, because it was my first big international victory and I climbed all four routes to the top (including the Duel). I didn´t expect that I could win that competition. Therefore I was very surprised and incredibly happy.

5. I also will never forget the World Championship 2005 in Munich. From the beginning of my climbing career I’ve always wanted to be a World Champion. When I was twelve years old I took part in a national copmetition, during which I forgot to clip one quickdraw. As a result I placed second and I was very dissapointed about it. One man told me then that one day, when I become a Worl Champion, I would forget about that failure. And he was right!

6. In addition to this my manager organised a great party to celebrate the victory that I had achieved in Munich. He invited all of my sponsors, trainers, my family and my friends. This party was very important for me, because it was a great opportunity to say thank you to my family in particular, to my sponsors, trainers and to all of the other people who supported and still support me.

7. Another unforgettable moment was winning a prize in Tyrol (Austria) in 2005. It was not a climbing prize – it was a competition between all athlets of different sports. The most famous male and female sportsmen got an award trophy.
Normally in Austria it is only skiing that counts. As well in Tyrol most people are focused on skiing (for instance the winner of the male athletics was a skier), but I won with more than 50 percent. This confirmed me that climbing made a great progress in Tyrol. It also proved that I was a good example for the young generation.