Spectacular line through the steep north wall. Hard to believe it's possible for 5, but it is. The line manages to swerve around the overhangs via dihedrals, so the actual climbing difficulty remains moderate.
But don't be fooled by the grade - the difficulty is the alpine flair, with sparse protection, challenging route finding and sometimes poor rock quality.
Gear:
8 alpine draws, 2 sport. (A bit optimistic 😅)
1 set of nuts, 1 set of offsets (rarely used, a small set of medium stoppers would have been fine)
Cams .5, 1, 2 (Not essential, but we got good use out of all of them)
Slings (MVP! Lots of good placements)
Pitches (with some beta):
0.1 & 0.2 "Felicitas" on the base. Easy climbing, first pitch equipped with several fixed slings, second an easy scramble with loose rock, stance at the first anchor of the actual route.
Coolchimney (sling, bolt) followed by a run-out, hard to protect dihedral/chute to the right ( bolt near end). Old piton stance at the end of the chute, modern ring bolt stance 3m up and to the right.
Continuing up and right, up the slab (bolt). Exit right (not into the dihedral) (piton) and continue in the same diagonal direction, going back into dihedral (bolt). Follow the base of the wall until you have easy terrain above you, scramble up to the stance in a small niche under a dihedral (hard to find 😬)
Up the dihedral to the left (bolt). The bolts above are part of the 5+ variant. Instead, head left for a fun and challengingtraverse over and around small outcroppings. Most moves can be protected with slings, but being out of sight of your belayer keeps things exciting. Stance at ring and bolt.
First crux pitch, lead by Katta, props! Right off the bat, a daunting stepover (old piton) and the up a trickydihedral (2 bolts). Rope management is a bit of a pain until the first bolt is clipped, prob best to remove/unclip any pro you placed before it. Continue along the diagonal crack to the left (bolt), the climbing is more challenging than it appears at first glance. Stance at the end of the diagonal crack.
Up 2 small overhangs to the right (piton+bolt), then work your way up the large dihedral (I mostly kept left). Continue upwards (bolt near end) until the stance in a small hollow on the right hand side. I found this the most mentally challenging pitch, as I rarely had a clear idea of where to go, the good holds where often hard to find and I found few placements for pro. 4+ feels a bit sandbagged in context.
Straight up the fairly chossy rock, past a fixed sling and bolt, to the foot of a yellow overhang. Keep right and upwards along the bottom edge to the next stance.
The 'grim' crux pitch. Up the dihedral (bolt), with powerful moves in good rock right off the bat. The second bolt heralds the crux of the route, (piton) swing out left on good holds to hold the slick slopers further up. Cool! Afterwards, easy climbing following the crack/dihedral up and left. A small overhang with loose rock in the dihedral a couple of meters before the stance is the final challenge, as I found no obvious way to protect it. However, there are excellent jugs hidden to the left. All in all, I found this pitch much more chill than some of the 'easier' ones.
Traverse left to the corner (bolt) for some beautifulexposed climbing further up, head up into the (moist) chimney/dihedral for some excellent 3d climbing. Once you reach the slab, look slightly left at the entrance of the final crevasse for the stance. (I initialy didn't find it until I almost stepped on the ring 🙈)
I went up the choss for a surprisingly stressful last pitch, apparently there was better climbing and a bolt to the left 😅. So much for concentration, but done is done, Bam!
- with
Katta
further up, head up into the (moist) chimney/dihedral for some excellent 3d climbing. Once you reach the slab, look slightly left at the entrance of the final crevasse for the stance. (I initialy didn't find it until I almost stepped on the ring 🙈)