Petra Klingler: Ambassador for climbing sports

Petra Klingler is Switzerland’s most successful sport climber and has been an ambassador for Ascona-Locarno since 2024. Throughout her career, she has achieved numerous successes, including two world championship titles (bouldering in 2016 and ice climbing in 2022), participation in the Olympics, and many other accomplishments. However, one of her personal favourite moments was at the age of 14, when she unexpectedly won her first international competition in Marseille - an event where she first recognized her great potential.

What do Petra and James Bond have in common? The Verzasca Dam! 007 jumped down, while Petra climbed up.
As a child, Petra watched the James Bond movie GoldenEye and was impressed by the scene where Bond jumps off the Verzasca Dam. When she later stood on the dam herself during a vacation, she was fascinated by its dizzying height.

Already as a child, Petra spent her holidays with her family in Ticino, staying at a campsite in Vallemaggia. The nearby Ponte Brolla offered ideal conditions for gaining her first climbing experience. The countless opportunities that the Ascona-Locarno region provides in such a compact area made it the perfect holiday destination for the Klingler family, all of whom are passionate climbers.

Even during her career as a professional sport climber, Petra remained closely connected to the Lago Maggiore region. Whenever she wasn’t traveling abroad, she took every opportunity to visit Ticino. For her, there is no better place for bouldering than Brione Verzasca. She appreciates the full package it offers: a breathtakingly beautiful landscape, excellent bouldering conditions (her favorite boulders are Molonk and Real Pamplemousse) and the outstanding culinary experiences (one of her favorite restaurants is the Osteria Paradiso).

This deep connection to Ascona-Locarno makes Petra the ideal ambassador for climbing in this unique region.

“Bouldering is huge in the Ascona-Locarno region!”
Brione Verzasca is one of the most beautiful and best places in the world for bouldering. The variety of boulders and routes, the quality of the rock, and the stunning landscape are unparalleled.

After almost 20 years and many great successes, Petra recently retired from competitive sports. However, she’s far from having had enough of climbing. She’s drawn back to spending more time outdoors in nature. Her specialty remains bouldering, which is particularly exciting here in Ticino. Her favourite is the boulder area Brione Verzasca, where there are over 700 bouldering routes ranging from 3 to 8c+ to explore. With such a variety, even a professional like Petra finds new exciting challenges.

One of her projects is the boulder La Brionesque (8a), which she plans to tackle. She also has many ideas for her future, including some multi-pitch routes, the Schattenjagd route in Ponte Brolla or the area in Cevio - anything as long as it involves rock climbing. Resting on her laurels is not something the friendly Zurich native is interested in. The amount of training she does is enormous. Petra trains about 20 hours per week. Even now, after retiring from active competition, her training effort hasn’t diminished much - she continues to train in the same way as before.

“If ice climbing were to become an Olympic sport in 2030, I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”
Petra became world champion in ice climbing in 2022. If this discipline were to indeed become Olympic, she could imagine making a comeback at the Winter Games in the French Alps.

She is not only a passionate climber but also a versatile athlete who enjoys trying new things. It is exactly this versatility that makes her so special. Petra is one of the few female athletes who is successful in all climbing disciplines. Furthermore, she is convinced that it is this very versatility that helped her avoid major injuries throughout her career - she never had to take more than three days off due to injury.

So, we can look forward to what Petra will surprise us with next. One thing is certain: Exciting adventures are already taking shape in the Ascona-Locarno region.