Bernd Zangerl adds two Tessin classics

"Can you turn the light on!"
"I can't find the switch"
"Have a look behind the tree"
"Ah yes, hang on a sec"
"...Thanks!"

That's how the video starts, in strong Austrian dialect, which documents the first ascents of two new problems in the Tessin, the steep Guilty of the Hilti (Fb8a) and the powerful looking traverse Humphrey Bogart (Gedächtnisweg) (Fb8a+).

The problems were freed recently by the 32-year-old Tyrolean Bernd Zangerl in the Verzasca valley and Zangerl told us "Both are first ascents! I had first cleaned them about 10 years ago... in the meantime loads of strong climbers have walked straight past them. It seems as if no one owns a brush any more ;-)"

In effect the lines are stikingly evident and Zangerl commented: "This is an interesting issue. What is really important for me personally is to climb a great line on a beautiful boulder. Nice moves, first-class lines are what I look out for, which means that the actual grade really isn't that important... I think it's a real shame that first-class boulders are often only climbed because of their difficulty!"

Is this a sign of the times we asked? "Perhaps" the Austrian replied, adding "consumption in general has gone up. And few can be bothered to brush a new line and then free it, because there's no grade attached. This is a real shame."

Although the problems are by no means cutting-edge, Zangerl underlines their beauty: "both are simply superb and will surely become real classics. The grades are only suggestions and I haven't climbed 22 moves for a long time, perhaps sport climbers will find them easier. Anyway, I'm really pleased to have finally climbed them;-) They're the best..."

With first ascents such as Viva la evolution (2002), New Base Line (2002), Frontline (2003), Memento (2005), Gecko (2006) and Anam Cara (2007) and important second ascents such as Fred Nicole's Dreamtime in 2001 and Dave Graham's From the dirt grows the flower in 2009, Zangerl's views are definitely worth bearing in mind.