Bernd Zangerl frees top boulder problem in Valle dell’Orco

Bernd Zangerl up to his usual tricks in Italy’s Valle dell’Orco. Ever since 2012 the Austrian - responsible for the coveted first repeat of Dreamtime at Cresciano in Switzerland back in 2001 - has been travelling to Italy’s Piedmont region to explore the valley, establishing instant classics such as Bravirabi, El Salvador, Self Aperto and the 14 meter highball 29dots close to Noasca.

All this suddenly ground in to halt in 2015 when he fell awkwardly at Cresciano and damaged his fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae. Initially it seemed as if he might never climb again but in the end Zangerl pulled through, possibly stronger than ever before.

Now he has managed to not only repeat a boulder problem that he climbed before the accident, but he has also added difficult sitdown start to the problem. The bloc is Il Colonel in Valle Orco, and was originally freed by Niccolò Ceria. With its sds it is now, according to the 40-year-old, "one of the best boulders I've ever climbed."