Fegefeuer IX on Acopan Tepui, Venezuela, by Stefan Glowacz, Kurt Albert & Co

At the end of December a German team led by Stefan Glowacz and Kurt Albert travelled to Venezuela where it established "Fegefeuer" IX, a new 700m route on Akopan Tepui, 2200m.

At the end of December a German team led by Stefan Glowacz and Kurt Albert travelled to Venezuela where it established a new 700m route on Acopan Tepui, 2200m.

The team included Holger Heuber, Ivan Calderón, Klaus Fengler, Jochen Schmoll and Tilo Marschke and climbed "Fegefeuer" IX on the North Face and follows what Glowacz describes as "a natural line despite the roofs and overhangs". The team climbed up a "dreamlike" headwall, using mainly natural gear to protect the pitches and placing bolts on the belays.. As usual, the expedition approached the "climb by fair means" which resulted in a complicated and taxing approach paddling by boat to the mountain.

This is the third route on the mountain. In 2002 the Italians Helmut Gargitter, Walter Obergolser, Toni Obojes, Pauli Trenkwalder, Ivan Calderón and Renato Botte established the 10 pitch "Jardinieros de Grandes Paretes" (VIII+), while in 2003 British couple John and Anne Arran climbed the 21 pitch "Pizza, Chocolate y Cerveza" (E6 6b, 600m) together with Alfredo Rangél later that year.