On 29/11/2020 Simon Gietl and Aaron Durogati made the first ascent of a new 500m route on the hitherto unclimbed north face of Mount Rauchkofel in the South Tyrol, Italy. After the ascent, the two climbers paraglided back down to valley. Durogati reports about this latest paralpinism adventure.
On 07/11/2020, just before South Tyrol declared itself in lockdown due to Covid, Simon Gietl and Davide Prandini made the first ascent of Aquädukt (IV, M5 650m), a new mixed climb up the north face of Wasserkopf (3135m) in the Rieserferner group of the Tauern Alps. At 3/4 height the new route joins the route established in 1977 by Werner Beikircher and Hans Kammerlander. Prandini reports.
The climbers belonging to the GAG Val Gardena mountaineering club Martin Dejori, Titus Prinoth and Alex Walpoth have established Xylophon, a multi-pitch rock climb up Heiligkreuzkofel / Sass de la Crusc in the Dolomites, Italy.
In spring 2019 Simon Gietl and Vittorio Messini made the first ascent of Backstage, a 350m multi-pitch with difficulties up to VIII+/R3 on the south face of Kleine Zinne / Cima Piccola, Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Dolomites. Messini reports.
The report and words about mountaineering from the Paul Preuss Prize, awarded to the Austrian mountaineer Heinz Mariacher celebrated at Reinhold Messner's Firmian Castle. Mariacher is the eighth alpinist to receive the prestigious award after Messner himself, Hanspeter Eisendle, Albert Precht, Hansjörg Auer, Alexander Huber, Beat Kammerlander and Bernd Arnold.
Belgian climbers Nicolas Favresse and Sébastien Berthe have repeated Odyssee, one of the hardest rock climbs on the North Face of the the Eiger in Switzerland.
The two mountain guides Simon Gietl and Andrea Oberbacher have made the first ascent of Lifestyle, a new multi-pitch rock climb up the west face of Torre del Lago (Fanis Group - Lagazuoi group) in the Dolomites.
The two mountain guides Simon Gietl and Andrea Oberbacher have made the first ascent of DNA, a new multi-pitch rock climb up Croda degli Alpini, the foresummit of Cima Ovest in the Tre Cime di Lavaredo group of the Italian Dolomites.
Interview with South Tyrolean mountaineer Simon Gietl after his solitary winter traverse of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo in the Dolomites. From 24 to 25 February the 35-year-old climbed Cima Ovest, Cima Grande, Cima Piccola, Punta di Frida and Cima Piccolissima.
From 24 to 25 February the South Tyrolean mountaineer Simon Gietl carried out a winter crossing of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo on his own, linking Cima Ovest, Cima Grande, Cima Piccola, Punta di Frida and Cima Piccolissima.
In Valsertal (Zillertal Alps, Tyrol) Martin Schidlowski and Raphaela Haug have climbed Catwalk, a probable new mixed line up the NE Face of Hohe Warte.
From 16 to 17 December 2019, after a day of reconnaissance, alpinists Simon Gietl and Vittorio Messini established Pandora (600m, V, M5, A0, WI6) up the west face of Pordoi (Dolomites) . This ice and mixed climb links via Abram with via Niagara and tackles the huge hanging icefall that formed on the upper section of the face.
At the start of November 2019 German alpinist Thomas Huber frees his multi-pitch climb Stone Age (8b+) on Untersberg in Berchtesgaden Alps, Germany.
Swiss climbers Marcel Schenk and David Hefti have climbed Via Nardella up Piz Badile, opened in 1973 by Daniele Chiappa, Giulio Martinelli, Tiziano Nardella and Elio Scarabelli in 1973. Hefti and Schenk onsighted all pitches, except for two which were climbed free by the second.
On Sunday 15 September 2019 Aaron Durogati and Mirco Grasso climbed Moby Dick up the South Face of Marmolada in the Dolomites to the famous halfway ledge from where they took off with a two-person paraglider. The experience reminded the South Tyrolean pilot of his recent paraglides in Patagonia.
Swiss mountaineer Roger Schäli has celebrated his 50th complete ascent of the Eiger in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland.
Swiss climbers Nina Caprez and Aymeric Clouet have repeated 'La Vida es Silbar' up the North Face of the Eiger.
58 ascents carried out in 2018 have been included in the Big list, from which winners will be selected for the Piolets d’Or , the prestigious mountaineering award that will be celebrated from 19 - 22 September 2019 during the Ladek Mountain Festival in Poland. The jury is comprised of: Sandy Allan, Kazu Amano, Valeri Babanov, Jordi Corominas, Fred Degoulet, Ines Papert, Andrej Štremfelj.
Polish climbers Jacek Matuszek & Łukasz Dudek have made the first ascent of Premiere, a big new rock climb up the North Face of Cima Grande in the Tre Cime di Lavaredo group of the Dolomites, Italy.
Simon Gietl and Vittorio Messini have made the first ascent of Alles im Kasten, a five-pitch climb up Mittlere Kasten close to Klas in the Hoher Tauern massif in Austria.
