In 2015 Tabea upped her sport climbing grade with an ascent of Sony Boy (8b+) at the Belly. She also took to some bigger walls, with a redpoint ascent of Deep Blue Sea (7b+, nine pitches) on the Eiger, and then the next day Magic Mushroom, a 20-pitch 7c+ route also on the Eiger. Tabea flashed or onsighted all the pitches except the crux 7c+ and the last 7b+, which she unfortunately didn’t have time to redpoint. Two years later, in 2017, Tabea made the first ascent of Schweinchen im All (8a), a limestone slab in Engelberg bolted 20 years prior. “Four meters of blank rock looked impossible,” says Tabea, “but then there was a way!”
After her 2015 success on Sonyboy Tabea needed a new challenge in her favourite climbing area (the Belly) and found it in a 40-metre 8c called Microbeta. On many days in 2017 Tabea went to work the route on toprope and was getting closer. However, pregnancy put hard climbing on hold and in March 2019 Tabea and Barti celebrated the arrival of their little boy. Microbeta has not been forgotten, however, and is Tabea’s main climbing goal for the coming year.
“Across my climbing life to date, what I love the most, far more than the end result or a number attached to the experience, is the process of doing it," says Tabea. "For me, climbing is a riddle that I love to solve. I love working on the moves and uncovering the individual solutions that exist for each problem and each hold on the problem. Engaging in that mystery of climbing is what I love to do most. My favourite routes ever are the ones I haven't done yet, the ones I can dream about, work on and make possible.”
Tabea, who has a degree in psychology, worked for a decade as Head Bouldering Coach at a climbing wall in Zürich and also worked occasionally as a climbing instructor outdoors. In 2019 she started work as an outdoor climbing instructor in the area Lucerne- Engelberg. Tabea hopes this will allow her to work less, be closer to home and be free to go on long climbing and surf trips with her little family.