Boxershorts added to Wilder Kaiser by Jonas Fertig, Luis Funk

On 6 and 7 September 2022 young German climbers Jonas Fertig and Luis Funk made a ground-up first ascent of a new multipitch on the Wilder Kaiser in Austria. The route climbs a completely independent line to the left of Weidmoons Donk and is protected mainly by trad gear and threads, just 5 bolts along the pitches, plus a bolt and peg at each belay. Called Boxershorts, it was freed with difficulties up to 7c max a month later, on 07/10/2022.

The pair explained "the rock quality is outstanding, with a cool tufa section and a steep crux pitch with lots of different sized pockets and a cool boulder problem right at the top. These types of rock formations are rarely found on big alpine climbs in the Northern Alps!"

Interestingly, the Innsbruck-based students approached the mountain by train, bus and then finally on foot. Regarding their ecopoint first ascent, they told planetmountain "For both of us, it’s really important to look at how efficient we can be without a car. This first ascent is kind of symbolic because on the day of the redpoint, it was unusually warm for October. Actually, it was simply too hot to climb in long pants so we decided to give it a try in boxershorts! This turned out to be the best solution, hence the name. We hope that our line will show some people that it is indeed possible to approach the mountains in a more climate friendly manner."