Cool new Kolosseum multipitch on Hohe Munde in Austria by Egon Egger, Benjamin Zörer

"Stand up, Gladiator!" Egon exclaimed just as I was about to place my right foot onto a bad foothold and get ready to shift my entire weight on it: I was about to make the hardest move of the route. At that moment we both instinctively knew that this would be the name of our new route, Steh auf Gladiator!

The first time I saw this line was last November, while climbing another route called Marcus Aurelius with a friend of mine up the central section of Kolosseum. I was back the next weekend with my good friend Egon Egger and we immediately started to open a new line ground-up, with only trad gear strapped to our harnesses. Because of the limited autumn daylight we had to abseil after the first three pitches. Unfortunately for personal reasons we didn’t get the chance to return and complete the route before winter set in.

After waiting feverishly during the long winter months, we returned to our route in May. At first we managed to add three more pitches, including the most difficult one in the entire route. Four weeks later we were back yet again and managed to complete the line, however the first free ascent was still outstanding and so we returned a week later to finally finish what we’d started over half a year ago. Much to our delight, everything went very smoothly indeed and we managed to redpoint all pitches on our first try.

The route is approximately 260m high and follows a logical line of chimneys and slabs with some sections that are fairly exposed with plenty of air beneath your feet! The quality of the rock ranges from great to excellent. We decided to grade the route a VII+, for protection we only used traditional gear. We left the 10 pegs we used for future repeaters. The anchors for abseiling are all equipped. 

by Benjamin Zörer

TOPO: Steh auf Gladiator, Kolosseum, Hohe Mund