A summary, for obvious reason incomplete, of the climbs, the most beautiful achievements and also the most painful moments in 2012. In the hope that this resume serves as a reminder and as a source on inspiration for the coming future.

January 2012

To interpret what shaped an intense and somewhat difficult January 2012, it might be worth starting slightly earlier, with 25 and 26 December 2011. The place, unsurprisingly, was Patagonia. The mountain was the south face of famous Torre Egger. The route Venas Azules. Climbed by Bjørn-Eivind Årtun and Ole Lied, the authors of a perfect undertaking that materialized as if by magic, up a line long dreamt of by many. One might define this as a luminous vision of alpinism, of Patagonia and their absolute, combined beauty. But as is well known, beauty’s simplicity is often opposed by the most contorted and problematic facets of alpinism. And so it was that in that very Patagonia, on 17 January 2012, the Cerro Torre bomb exploded. Or rather, the Compressor Route controversy and those pressure bolts planted in 1970 by Cesare Maestri was re-triggered. The fuse had been lit by Jason Kruk and Hayden Kennedy, two young, highly talented American alpinists who after having climbed almost all the route free (they used 5 of Maestri’s bolts) decided to remove most of the bolts on their way down. The news immediately made its way across all websites and social networks. And the debate … exploded. Scorching, tough and also “universal” almost like never before. On the one hand there were those who praised the bolt removal as a “heroic” act which righted a “dark chapter of alpinism” and a ” mountain scar”. On the other hand there were those who did not accept that someone might unilaterally decide which are to be the purest ethics, imposing them not only with “force” but also claiming the right to delete a chapter in the (albeit partially unresolved and controversial) history of alpinism. In between the two lay that impossible dilemma of making ends meet of a passion which should unite and be based on an alpinism of “achieving” instead of one which is necessarily “against” something or someone. The fact of the matter is that, just a few days after Kruk and Kennedy’s bolt removal and while the controversy was in full rage, Austrian ace David Lama placed a masterful jab in favour of alpinism that is played up there in the mountains. His first complete free ascent of the Compressor Route was a simple and definitive interpretation and, as it happened, also extremely clean. Was it for this perhaps that it did not receive the prominence and attention it deserved? Or was Lama still paying his dues for the lack of style he’d been challenged for during previous attempts? What springs to mind is that nobody is perfect. And that alpinism is a soul mover that only expresses itself fully up there in the mountains (Cassin docet!) So, without trivialising or demonising the discussions which of course have their part, it’s best to look forward. In the mountains. With Simone Moro and Denis Urubko, for example, who during that same January 2012 were right in the midst of their winter attempt of Nanga Parbat. But also with Andrea Di Donato and Andrea Di Pascasio and their second winter ascent of Le nebbie del Paretone on Corno Grande (Gran Sasso). Or with the first repeat of Don’t Die of Ignoranceon Ben Nevis carried out by Greg Boswell and James Dunn. And again with the first free ascent, by Ueli Steck and Jonathan Griffith, of the Voie Lesueur up the North Face of Petit Dru  (Mont Blanc). And the first winter ascent of Via Cembridge up Cima Margherita in the Brenta Dolomites by Luca Giupponi, Rolando Larcher and Fabio Leoni. While slightly further north, in Austria’s Gastein, an exceptional trio comprised of the “pioneers” Thomas Bubendorfer, Sepp Inhöger and Hans Zlöbl established two beautiful and difficult icefalls: Triple Aand The usual suspects. Leaving alpinism and entering the “different” and far less “ideological” world of bouldering & Co, it’s worth noting the record-breaking start to the year. It all began with Alex Honnold and his great and courageous climb up the super highball Too Big to Flail at Bishop (USA). Which was joined by: Memory is Parallax 8B+ by Dave Graham at Elkland  in the States once again (in truth climbed on 31/12/2011), and another two 8B+, Mirror Reality by Daniel Woods (Rocky Mountain National Park) and Michele Caminati’s Ultimo dei Moicaniat Amiata, Italy. For their part, Dai Koyamada (at Toyota in Japan) and Paul Robinson (Gateway Canyon, Nevada) sent two top 8C problems, Shanbara and Meadowlark Lemon respectively. In the sports climbing scene, the place of honour during this new year beginning goes to Iker Pou with his Nit de Bruixes 9a+ at Margalef in Spain. The Iberian peninsula also provided news of Klemen Becan’s two 8c on-sights: Fish Eye at Oliana and Kaliste at Archidona. And still from Spain, but this time from Siurana, came the news that Alizée Dufraisse kicked off her 2012 in style by repeating La Reina Mora 8c+/9a while, with ice axes and crampons, Ines Papert and Lisi Steurer made the first female ascent and third repeat of Illuminati, the super mixed route established by Albert Leichtfried in Val Lunga, Dolomites. On the extreme skiing front, the year started with Davide Capozzi and Stefano Bigio and the first descent of the SE ridge of Dent du Jetoula (Mont Blanc). Later on we will discover that this was not to be their only descent. And at the end the month, a reminder of those we’d prefer not to have: on 18 January Mario Merelli left us, a last descent from “his” Pizzo Redorta proved fatal. And this, with regards to Cerro Torre mentioned previously, annuls all debates and discussions about climbing and ethics. In fact, it reminds us what should be the only summit, mankind.

 

February 2012

At Eptingen in Switzerland, Robert Jasper freed the “total dry” Ironman. While, almost on the other side of the world, Tim Emmett and Klemen Premrl climbed Canada’s Helmcken Falls via the super mixed, “ephemeral” Spray On… Top! Shortly afterwards Dave MacLeod freed Castle in the Sky, a difficult dry tooling testpiece at Druim Shionnach in Scotland (hallmarks… no bolts). While the debate continued about the Cerro Torre bolt removal, Sergey Dashkevich, Mikhail Davy, Evgeniy Dmitrienko and Arkadiy Seregin forged their Russian Route up the SE Face Aguja Poincenot. On the European “front”, a team of ice climbers comprised of Ines Papert, Rudi Hauser, Lukas Seiwald, Kurt Astner, Emanuele Ciullo, Thomas Senf and Scott Milton made the first ascents of a great series of ice and mixed routes in the Norway’s Romsdalen region. The other side of the pond witnessed George Ullrich, Sam Farnsworth, Siebe Vanhee and Mason Earle in Venezuela establishing Kids With Guns, an intense big wall up the remote Tepui Amuri. In the meantime, Davide Capozzi and Stefano Bigio (those two once again) seized the right moment to make the first ski and snowboard descent of Mont Rochefort. Not even a week later the two returned to the Mont Blanc range, this time with Julien Herry, Francesco Civra Dano and Luca Rolli, to make a rare descent of the SE Face of Aiguille du Moine… evidently they were insatiable. Just like Iker Pou (that man again) who at Margalef freed Enemigo Público Nº1 (8c+/9a) and, still not satisfied, added Harroputza 9a to Ilarduia. He was followed by American Jonathan Siegrist who freed Le Reve, a new 9a/a+ at Arrow Canyon. In mid February the Nanga Parbat adventure of Simone Moro and Denis Urubko ground to a halt: snow and incessant wind, added to the usual “polar” temperatures associated with Himalayan winters, had rendered this first winter ascent impossible. Just like, unfortunately, the first winter ascent of K2. The Russian team led by Viktor Kozlov was forced to abandon the expedition in the worst possible way: with the death of extremely strong Vitaliy Gorelik. Gorelik had initially suffered frostbite at 7000m, but his condition worsened drastically and his heart attack proved fatal while the helicopters which had been called to his rescue remained grounded due to the terrible weather. This reminds us, if ever there were still the need, how difficult alpinism is and in particular these Himalayan giants are in winter. And as if this didn’t suffice, more news loomed over February: Stein-Ivar Gravdal and Bjørn-Eivind Årtun lost their lives during an attempt to forge a new line up Kjerag in Norway. Yes, the same Bjørn-Eivind who had established the beautiful route up Torre Egger with which we started this chronology… any comment at this point would be superfluous. Instead, as many believe, to overcome moments like these perhaps the best thing really is to return to the mountains. We did so with the North Face of Loska Stena in Slovenia’s Mangart massif. There, on 25 – 27 February, David Lama (yes, him again!) and Peter Ortner forged a great route: 1300m in perfect alpine style, without bolts and with difficulties up to 7- and M6. Beautiful! As beautiful as Lama’s shift from the world-famous Cerro Torre to one of most important and difficult – but certainly not known to all – mountain faces in Slovenia.

 

March 2012

8000ers and first winter ascents once again. After two failures, Nanga Parbat and K2, came one success. On 9 March at 8:30 Adam Bielecki and Janusz Golab from Poland reached the summit of Gasherbrum I (Karakorum, Pakistan). With this ascent, 11 eightthousanders have now been climbed in winter, 9 of which by Polish alpinists (including obviously Shisha Pangma by Morawski and Simone Moro in 2005). But there was little time for them to celebrate. On the same summit day Gerfried Göschl, Nisar Hussain and Cedric Hahlen – three alpinists engaged in another expedition on G1 – were reported missing. They would fail to return to Base Camp. Just like strong Ukranian alpinist Maria Khitrikova, the 21-year-old rising star of Russian mountaineering, who perished on Elbrus. While Lorenzo Castaldi failed to descend the North Face of Ortles. Known to all as Enzolino: his passion and insight in the Forum discussions leave a great void. But there is no point repeating oneself… just like in life itself, mountaineering continues to move forward. And so March witnessed some other great winter ascents. Beginning with Nicola Tondini, Alessandro Baù and Enrico Geremia and the important first winter ascent of Kein Rest Von Sehnsucht, the great outing up the NW Face of Punta Tissi, Civetta, Dolomites. And continuing with the highly active Andrea Di Donato who, with Bertrand Lemaire, made the second winter ascent of Il nagual e la farfalla up the Gran Sasso Paretone. Then there was the beautiful Via dei Bellunesi journey up the SW Pillar of Spiz di Lagunàz (Pale di San Lucano, Dolomites) carried out by Marco Anghileri. 1350m, dearly yearned for; the first solo ascent, first winter ascent, second repeat and an experience which won’t be forgotten for a long time. Another beautiful, recommended undertaking was the first winter traverse of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo by Simon Gietl and Roger Schäli. Simon Gietl remained in the Dolomites and, along with Daniel Tavernini and Klaus Gruber, carried out two first winter ascents: ISO2000 (Tre Cime di Lavaredo) and Zauberlehrling (Cima Scotoni). A series of other first winter ascents up Presolana are worth underlining: via Direttissima by Maurizio Panseri, Daniele Natali and Alessandro Ceribelli, as well as Via Paco (Natali & Tito Arosio) and Via Bosio (Panseri & Zanetti). Enrico Bortolato, Giorgio Travaglia and Stefano Valsecchi concentrated their efforts on the first winter ascent of Ey de Net up the Tofana di Rozes, while Alessandro Baù and Enrico Geremia carried out the first repeat, and first winter ascent, of Andamento Lento in Val Scura (Dolomites), a class route first ascended back in 1997 by Gigi Dal Pozzo, Maurizio Fontana and Venturino De Bona. A lot of winter traffic, don’t you think? This too is proof of intense activity that has no boundaries. So much so that in March the remote Venezuelan peaks lost in the Amazonian jungle returned to the forefront, with Leo Houlding, Jason Pickles, Stanley Leary, Alastair Lee, Yupi Rangel and Alejandro Lamus who established The Yopo Wall up Cerro Autana. While the “famous gang” comprised of Nicolas Favresse, Sean Villanueva, Stephane Hanssens and Jean-Louis Wertz forged two new routes up Amuri Tepui. Naturally sport climbing continued to be on the move. This resulted in yet another exemplary journey undertaken by Maurizio Zanolla, alias Manolo. Roby Present “is a 35m route up a series of almost furious crimps” an 8c+/9a with which Manolo celebrated his 54th birthday and remembered a friend. On the other side of the spectrum another absolute ace, Adam Ondra, inaugurated the year with the first ascent of the 9a To tu jeste nebylat Labak in his Czech Republic. No fortune-teller was needed to predict that this was to be just the first of many successes in 2012 for magic Adam. The same holds true for James Pearson who kicked off with his year with the 9a ascent of Escalatamasters at Perles in Spain. Talking of Spain, in the country which is increasingly becoming the stronghold of sport climbing, Caroline Ciavaldini repeated Mind Control 8c+ at Oliana. What remains of March is Angelika Rainer’s victory of the Ice Climbing World Cup together with male dominator Maxim Tomilov. And it’s worth remembering the Piolet d’or assigned to the ascent of K7 West carried out by Slovenia’s Nejc Marcic and Luka Strazar and Saser Kangri II climbed by the Americans Mark Richey, Steve Swenson and Freddie Wilkinson. The Lifetime’s Achievement award went to Frenchman Robert Paragot, while a Jury Special Mention went to that Torre Egger climb by Bjorn-Eivind Aartun and Ole Lied which we now know extremely well. Just as we know David Lama who, during the last few days of March, made the solo first ascent of Badlands up the unnamed face between Sagwand and Hohe Kirche in the Valsertal, Tirol, Austria. In truth, his main objective hadn’t been these 700m graded 6a M5 WI4 A1, but another face which turned out to be too dangerous. And so, while glancing around the valley, Lama noticed a… fallback. So what do you reckon about this form of alpinism?

 

April 2012

April began with Espiadimonis or, better still, with the end of an extraordinary journey undertaken by Silvia Vidal on Serrania Avalancha, in Chile’s Patagonia. A 1500m high rock face, the start reached by boat, climbed completely alone. Add to this the fact that the summit, practically unknown, was reached after 34 days, and then find an adjective for this new adventure carried out by the Spanish alpinist. Extraordinary? Talking of things which go beyond usual limits: during a brief Italian tour Adam Ondra stopped off at Bus de Vela and on-sighted Bella Regis 8c+ as well as another two 8c’s; it’s almost as if this, for him, had become normal. But let’s move forward, to Margalef in Spain once again, where Sasha DiGiulian sent her 9a Era Bella. After Pure Imagination the highly talented US climber needed a mere 3 days to come to grips with her second 9a. As if to say: the “girl” had made the grade. While on the subject of grades and Spain: ace Austrian champion Johanna Ernst sent her first 8c+, Open your Mind at Santa Linya, proving that this year she was finally back! Domen Skofic proved that he too was a force to be reckoned with thanks to his 9a repeat of Halupca 1979 at Ospo in Slovenia. Another constant was Markus Bock and his difficult new routes in the Frankenjura which included, amongst others, the 8c+/9a House Of Shock. Bouldering was enriched with another 8C, Insomnio, freed by Spain’s Nacho Sánchez at Cova de la Gota at Crevillente. Same grade, but in Switzerland’s Chironico, for Martin Keller who freed his mighty Der mit dem Fels tanzt. Big rock faces saw plenty of action and while Matteo della Bordella and David Bacci made the first ascent of Sintomi strani in Corsica’s Bavella, Caroline Ciavaldini and James Pearson made the first repeat of Aria, the difficult and beautiful line established by Pietro Dal Prà up Sardinia’s Punta Plumare. From Chile’s wildest and least known corners, namely the West Ridge of Monte Giordano, came news of Shark’s Fin Ridge, a new route put up by Robert Jasper, Jörn Heller and Ralf Gantzhorn. During the months of April and May Marek Raganowicz and Marcin Tomaszewski from Poland made the first ascent of Superbalance up the massive Polar Sun Spire on Baffin Island. During this same time period a Slovenian expedition led by Anze Cokl explored Alaska’s Revelation Mountains and came away with 11 virgin summits and 12 new routes. And at the end of April Cody Roth made the first ascent of one of North America’s hardest trad routes, Mainliner at Las Conchas in New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains. As if to say that there are certainly more mountains and rock faces, and also more ways of interpreting them, then one can possibly imagine.

 

May 2012

Climbers’ love for climbing is greater than one might think. But if you’d been to the 9th Melloblocco, you’d certainly have understood: in Val di Mello climbing always comes first and foremost. A climbing which, finally, played a leading roll at the Trento Film Festival with the Italian Mountaineering Club Genziana d’Oro Grand Prize awarded to Verticalmente Demodé, the film by Davide Carrari with Maurizio “Manolo” Zanolla in the starring role. Once again it was a lifetime’s passion which shone brightly for Mario Panzeri from the summit of Dhaulagiri. On 17 May the mountaineer from Lecco concluded his ascent of all 14 x 8000ers and in doing so he became the 4th Italian to do so without the use of supplementary oxygen. On that same day Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and David Göttler reached the summit of Nuptse (7861m) via the long and difficult Scott route, while ace Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck celebrated his first time on the summit of Everest. All extremely beautiful ascents! During that same period though the Himalaya also showed itself from its worst side. In a single day three died on Everest, while two alpinists were reported missing, and this doesn’t take into account all those plucked off the mountains by helicopter rescueswhich are increasingly operating at these altitudes, too. Shortly afterwards the photo of an incredible queue of mountaineers working its way up the highest mountain in the world made global headlines. Simone Moro, who broke off his attempt to enchain Everest and Lhotse because of this incredible (and dangerous) crowd, talked about a mountain that had been transformed into an amusement park. As usual, there seemed no end to this race to nowhere. Perhaps it’s worth moving on to another chapter therefore. Perhaps with another race, but one which is decidedly more interesting. We’re talking about Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell who became the first to climb El Capitan, Half Dome and Mount Watkins in Yosemite in less than 24 hours. Perhaps it’s difficult to put a name to a performance of this sort, but it certainly is proof of truly special capacities. As unusual as David Lama’s chosen path, this time via a fast solo repeat of the difficult route Les Barbares up Pointe Raphel Borgis du Pré de Bar (Mont Blanc). In sports climbing, another great and unusual ascent came at the hands of Gabriele Moroni who freed Coup de Bambou, at 9a perhaps the hardest route in China. In doing so the Italian beat “by a hair’s breadth” many of the world’s best climbers who had gathered in the Gétû Valley for the Petzl RocTrip. Daniel Woods for his part did something fairly unusual, too: he stopped bouldering, tied in to a rope and freed Mission Impossible 9a at Clear Creek Canyon in Colorado. Continuing in this “game changing” vein, Dave MacLeod travelled away from the Scottish gullies to boulder in Switzerland where he came up trumps with the 8C problem Mystic Stylez at Magic Wood. And this just goes to show, once again, that we’re in the era of global climbing where utmost difficulties have almost become the norm. Even if freeing two 9a’s on the same day, as did Pirmin Bertle at Charmey, still remains an achievement that stands above the rest. Just as – on a slightly different note – extreme skiing remains somewhat apart. See for example the first snowboard descent of the NE Face of Grivola by the “usual” Davide Capozzi. Or the first descent of the Pizzo di Coca North gully by Fabio Bonomi and Mario Vannuccini. Talking of things that are certainly extreme, there was of course the B.A.S.E. jump off Shivling by Valery Rozov. The altitude? 6420m, i.e. one of the highest jumps ever made. What remains to add is that May and spring (by now ripe) reaped the usual “harvest.” Such as two fantastic new routes in Corsica’s Bavella. The first upPunta U was established by Rolando Larcher and Maurizio Oviglia, the second up the Punta A Muvra bastion by Luca Giupponi and Nicola Sartori. Massimo Da Pozzo left his signature (and guarantee) on the Tofana di Rozes pillar by making the first ascent of Spigolo Sam together with Natasha Alexander and Samuele Majoni. While Le Vrai Plaisir – (Pampers) was yet another new route created by Gianni Canale, Aldo Mazzotti and Franco Cavallaro up a face which needs no introducing: Piccolo Dain in Valle del Sarca. May departed taking with it all of this and, unfortunately, much more. Antonio Boscacci left us once and for all, this great climber and one of the most visionary and “mad” inventors of rock climbing in Val di Mello and further afield, too. Unrepeatable!

 

June 2012

June began with a race. And it could not be otherwise, seeing that the man in charge was Alex Honnold, racing up the Yosemite Triple, this time solo. Not content with the record set in May with Tommy Caldwell up El Capitan, Half Dome and Mount Watkins, Honnold did it again, this time alone and in 18 climbing hours. Crazy? No, probably for him it must have simply been extremely good fun seeing that not even a fortnight later he beat, together with the other speed specialist Hans Florine, the speed record of the legendary The Nose on El Capitan. Their time: 2 hours, 23 minutes, 46 seconds, i.e. 13 minutes less that the previous record set by Dean Potter and Sean Leary. Jes Meiris and Quinn Brett needed a bit longer when, just a few days earlier, they set the new women’s recordby climbing the Nose in 10:19. A time which, take note, many teams would be envious of. Talking of teams and envy: it’s worth remembering the trip to Borneo’s Mount Kinabalu by Yuji Hirayama, Daniel Woods, James Pearson and Caroline Ciavaldini. The result: for Hirayama the first free ascent of his multi-pitch Pogulian Do Koduduo (9a). Woods freed the 9a+ Tinipi. While Pearson established the 8c+ Excalibur. It’s worth remembering that, for those who want to attempt them, these routes are located at an altitude of 4000m… While on the theme of numbers and things which are extraordinary, from Ceuse came the news of the first ascent of Jungle Boogie 9a+ at the hands of the usual Adam Ondra. Action continued in Italy, too, and the “terrible” crag Covolo was shaken with Silvio Reffo’s first ascent of L’attimo 9a. This same moment was quickly seized by a timeless champion, Dino Lagni. While taking of champions: despite scorching temperatures, at Santa Linya in Spain Ramon Julian Puigblanque repeated Catxasa 9a+. The theme of inborn class standing the test of time came to the forefront thanks to 55-year-old Jean-Pierre Bouvier who at Fontainebleau in France freed Fou Rire en aller-retour, a boulder traverse graded 9a! But there was more to come. From the Dolomites came Agoge, the new route put up by Simon and Manuel Gietl on the historically important Cima Scotoni. While, over in Alaska, Nick Bullock and Andy Houseman carried out one of the extremely rare repeats of a legendary route: the Slovak Direct up Denali. Antoine Bletton, Pierre Labbre, Mathieu Maynadier and Sebastien Ratel for their part forged Théorême de la Peine, a great new route up Latok II (7020m) in Pakistan’s Karakorum. We’d have loved to continue straight into summer. But June held one more news item in store: 41-year-old ski mountaineering champion Stephane Brosse fell to his death when a cornice collapsed in Aiguille d’Argentiere (Mont Blanc) And, once again, we were lost for words.

 

July 2012

Mazeno Ridge. The name suffices to evoke the history of Himalayan mountaineering. For decades this ridge which acts as the watershed for two exceptional faces, the Diamir and Rupal face on the extraordinary Nanga Parbat, fuelled the dreams of alpinists worldwide. Difficult, beautiful and long. Eternal even, covering a distance of 10 kilometres and eight peaks over 7000m. On 1 July Sandy Allan, Rick Allen, Cathy O’Dowd and the Sherpa Lhakpa Rangdu, Lhakpa Zarok and Lhakpa Nuru set off on this great journey. They knew that no one before them had managed to traverse the Mazeno Ridge and summit Nanga Parbat: and this is exactly what they had in mind. Their progress could be followed on a daily basis thanks to tweets sent by Cathy O’Dowd and a live map. And, day after day and not without difficulties, the team progressed. On 12 July, after 11 days on the mountain, they set off from their camp at 7160m for the summit. The final act. But by now they were low on food. Tired, with a long and difficult ascent still ahead of them. O’Dowd and Nuru decided to descend back to the last camp. The other 4 continued their summit bid, but were then forced to give up. During the descent to the final camp at 7160m two Sherpa took a frightening fall, fortunately though without serious consequences. At this point, O’Dowd and the three Sherpas opted to descent the Rupal Face down the Schell route and, not without difficulty, managed to reach base camp. Sandy Allan and Rick Allen, however, resisted. Remained up there to attempt the summit once more. The two Himalayan veterans, now practically without food, set off upwards on 14 July. Bivouacked at 7720m. And finally, on 15 July, reached the top. Then the descent to 7720m. Another bivy. Followed by the long and difficult descent down the Diamir Face. Another two bivies, without food or water. On the Kinshofer Face they met the Czech alpinists Marek Holecek and Zdenek Hruby. Then, on July 19 and after 18 days on the mountain, they returned to base camp. Simply memorable! As beautiful and absolutely important as the ascent by Kyle Dempster, Hayden Kennedy (many will remember him for the January bolt removal of the Compressor Route on Cerro Torre) and Urban Novak up the virgin East Face of K7 (Karakorum, Pakistan). And there was more. South Africans Steve Bradshaw, Dave Glass, Clinton Marteningo and Andrew Porter established a series of routes in a style similar to Favresse & Co’s “sailing + climbing”, including Improbability Drive up the massive Red Wall directly opposite the famous Impossible Wall. While on the theme of big walls, but this time on Baffin Island’s Mount Asgard, Ines Papert, Jon Walsh and Joshua Lavigne made the first ascent of Sensory Overload. Baffin was the scene for a 5-star team comprised of Hansjörg Auer, Ben Lepesant, Eneko & Iker Pou, William Peterson, Matteo Mocellin and Riky Felderer who established a handful of new routes including the difficult The Door. Rajceva is the name of the difficult new route put up by Luka Lindic and Andrej Grmovsek on the north face of Krizevnik in Slovenia. While “Inferno con vista”, hell with a view, explains all to well the “character” of the new route traced by Gabriel Basile, Cristiano Iurisci and Stefano Supplizi up the massive, uncertain and epic north Face of Monte Camicia (Gran Sasso). The same face where Andrea Di Pascasio and Emanuele Pontecorvo made the first repeat of Vacanze romane, the immense 2070m route established in 1999 by Ezio Bartolomei and Roberto Iannilli. The month continued with David Lama (him again!), Peter Ortner and Corey Rich and their repeat of legendary Eternal Flame on Trango Tower. And with the repeat, on-sight and in 32 hours, of another “mythical” route, Divine Providence up Mont Blanc’s Gran Pilier d’Angle by Luka Krajnc and Luka Lindic. This was followed by the “frightful” first solo and the second repeat of Memento Mori at the hands of Rossano Libera; for many this is the most “shocking” ascent on Badile’s North East Face. Dazzling news came from Pembroke in Wales where Charlie Woodburn put up Something’s Burning, a new trad ascent of E9 7a which Woodburn admitted was a “pulse racer”. For her part, Mayan Smith-Gobat travelled to the Dolomites with David Falt to capture a beautiful and rare repeat (probably the third overall) of Donnafugata, the superb route established by Christoph Hainz and Roger Schäli on Torre Trieste. Theirs was a fantastic 32-hour tour de force, climbed on-sight bar 2 pitches sent redpoint. Another noteworthy Dolomite climb was Via degli Angeli up the North Face of Punta di Campiglio by Silvestro and Tomas Franchini and freed at the end of August. In sports climbing, Klemen Becan came up trumps with the first ascent of Fidel Incastro 9a at Grotta Caterina on the outskirts of Trieste. While another cave, the Grotta Mandello above Lecco, witnessed Luca Passini free a route which recounts a lifetime’s climbing, Make a wish 8c+. Welcome to Tijuana 8c at Rodellar in Spain marks nothing but the beginning for Brooke Raboutou who followed in her parent’s footsteps and, at the tender age of 11, became the youngest climber to have sent this grade. Talking of young child prodigies, even though he is now 19 years old, Adam Ondra continued to be on a different par. And so at Hanshelleren – Flatanger in Norway he sent another two 8c+ on-sights, plus a new 9a+. And then, and this was the real news, in that incredible Flatanger cave Ondra set about creating something new. Needless to say, the project could be nothing but superb and at this point we had to wait to find out more. As we were to see, we wouldn’t be disappointed. We were disappointed however, truly disheartened, by the July 12 avalanche which killed 9 mountaineers and injured 11 on Mount Maudit. We thought of them there, at the start of the route that crosses three peaks on its way towards Mont Blanc, during what should have been a day of great happiness. Then, a moment later absolute nothing, everything was swept, overwhelmed. We never get used to this.

 

August 2012

Along the lines of there are plenty of mountains left to climb, the Ramadhan period began with a new, long and difficult 1100m route forged by the brothers Martin and Florian Riegler up the virgin Kako Peak (4950m) in Pakistan’s Karakoram. During the months of July and August Rolando Larcher, Luca Giupponi and Nicola Sartori travelled to the Aladaglar mountain chain in Turkey where they established and freed Nessuno up the north face of Cima Vay Vay and Radio Eksen in Cimbar Valley. The bouldering front (read unsolved problems) is never ending, too, and Dave Graham made swift work of Amandla 8B+ put up by Fred Nicole in Rocklands. A few days earlier, still in South Africa’s bouldering paradise, Nalle Hukkataival repeated Oliphants Dawn, another 8B+ problem set by master Fred Nicole. Talking about repeats: 17-year-old Enzo Oddo from France clutched a class hattrick by sending three 9a’s in a single week: PPPand Promotion Canne à pêche in the Verdon Gorge and Kick-Ass at the Gorges du Loup. As if to indicate that sport climbing’s extreme is there, just waiting to be revolutionised upwards once more. Just like women’s climbing which starred Barbara Zangerl once again. She was the first to redpoint End of Silence, that great multi-pitch put up by Thomas Huber on the Feuerhorn. And while London hosted its great Olympic Games, Neil Gresham travelled to Pembroke and put up the hardest Deep Water Solo in Britain: Olympiad. In the Dolomites Giorgio Travaglia and Stefano Valsecchi climbed their Pilastro Parmenide up the South Face of Cima dell’Auta orientale while the two South Tyroleans Alex Walpoth and Martin Dejori made a perfect trad ascent of Africa, the new route on the NE Tower of Meisules. Paolo Spreafico and Fabio Palma checked in with the first repeat of Viva Dulfer, the difficult route climbed by Larcher and Cavallaro up Cima Ghez. Matteo Della Bordella and Giacomo Neri for their part made the first repeat of AlexAnna, the demanding route freed once again by Rolando Larcher up the S Face of Punta Penia (Marmolada). Della Bordella once again, this time with Fabio Palma, made a rare repeat of Baston la Baffe, the important alpine big wall – unjustly little known – established by the Zambetti brothers and Denis Burdet on the Scheideggwettwerhorn in the Bernese Alps. Other repeats included the second ascent of the severe and demanding Quo vadis on Sass dla Crusc at the hands of Enrico Geremia and Andrea Simonini. Christian Gaab, Uli Strunz, Benno Wagner, Toni Lamprecht and Paolo Maldi Dalmasso made the first ascent of Come animali nella bolla dei temporali up the NE Face of Corno Stella, while Roberto Iannilli and Luca D’Andrea forged Compagni dai campi e dalle officine, a new and difficult route up the E Face pof of Corno Grande (Gran Sasso). Ermanno Salvaterra and Chicca Boselli completed I Tre Giganti, the beautiful line Salvaterra had begun with Matteo Bertolotti and Paolo Grisa up the NE Face of Crozzon di Brenta. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world and in the midst of the austral winter, Stephan Siegrist, Thomas Senf and Ralf Weber climbed the Exocet route. In the Peruvian Andes Dutch alpinists Bas van der Smeede, Elly van der Plas, Bas Visscher, Vincent van Beek and Saskia van der Smeede made the first ascent of Poco Loco, a new route on the N Face of Puscanturpa Este (5410m). In Pakistan’s Khane Valley the Bulgarians Doychin Boyanov, Tervel Kerelov, Michail Michailov and Nikolay Petkov making the first ascents of Levski Peak (5733m) and Grey Tower (5435m). And Swiss alpinists Basil Jacksch, Christian Ledergerber, Silvan Schüpbach and Vera Reist established four new routes in fine style up the partly untouched peaks in Greenland’s remote and almost unexplored Renland area. But, back in the Dolomites, Hansjörg Auer and Much Mayr completed one of the most noteworthy climbs: the first ascent of L’ultimo dei Paracadutisti, that massive route (completely without bolts) up the south Face of the Marmolada established by the legendary team Frizzera, Leoni and Maffei. The loss of Alvise Ravazzolo was truly painful: the young mountaineer from Vicenza was struck by a rock at the foot of Torre del Lago. What remains of August was the end of the Bouldering World Cup 2012 and the great victories of Rustam Gelmanov and Anna Stöhr. In doing so the multiple World Champion won his first World Cup, while the Bouldering Queen completed her hat trick!

 

October 2012

October started off with a Change by Adam Ondra. For sport climbing fans, this “bombastic” he’d been in the making for a while. Yes, because those of you who’ve read this report attentively know that the route is that superb “Norwegian” project Mr. Adam had talked about in July. In short, this “change” came into being in the Hanshelleren – Flatanger cave … at 9b+. Ergo: probably the most difficult way of the world. Without wasting further or making guesses, it’s perhaps best to concentrate on what this “monster” did later, during his USA trip to the Red River Gorge. First he flashed a 9a, Southern Smoke Direct. Then, on the same day, he sent two important on-sights: Golden Ticket 8c+ and Pure Imagination which, for all, had been 9a but not for Ondra who felt it to be 8c+. A generous gesture, and also extremely honest, seeing that it would have been the world’s first 9a on-sight. Anyhow, he is undoubtedly “on a different par.” having said that, one mustn’t forget the absolute value of other performances. Such as young New Yorker Ashima Shiraishiwho repeated Southern smoke 8c+ and Lucifer at Red Rive Gorge on the very same day! Or such as Polish climber Aleksandra Taistra who sent the 8c+ Così Fan Tutte at Rodellar, in Spain. And it’s imperative to emphasize the beautiful ascent of emerging Italian Silvio Reffo on the difficult 8c+/9a of Il Frutto del Diavolo at Bus de Vela. While Peace and Love, those 80 horizontal moves invented and put together by Simone Pedeferri in Val di Mello’s Grotta del Ferro have a “taste” which is difficult to explain with a mere 8c grade. As for the rest, Stefan Glowacz’s multi-pitch Verdon project Golden Shower has a rather “different” feel. October brought with it an absolute novelty on the bouldering front: that of little-known Tomoko Ogawa from Japan who, at home in Shiobara, repeated Catharsis 8B+ and in doing so became the first woman to send this grade. Another boulderer worth mentioning is Nicolò Ceria who sent the famous Entlinge 8B+ and L’ombre du vent 8B in Switzerland’s Murgtal. Women’s achievements were further enhanced by Mayan Smith-Gobat once again who became the first female to send the famous Punks in the Gym(32/8b +) at Arapiles in Australia. Not to be outdone Ines Papert freed Schwarze Madonna at Untersberg in Germany. Freewheeling along the theme of multi-pitches: Silvan Schüpbach made the first free ascent of La Röschtigrabenon the Wendenstöcke, Switzerland. In Austria Roland Hemetzberger freed Südwand on the Karlspitze, probably the hardest trad protected route in Wilder Kaiser massif. On Yosemite’s El Capitan Matteo della Bordella made a clean repeat of Freerider, the testing climb put up by Alexander and Thomas Huber. The North Face of Il Tempio, on Mount Sirente in the Central Appennines received attention from Domenico Totani, Cristiano Iurisci, Stefano Supplizi and Gabriele Basile who made the first ascent of Violazione di domicilio. In the Mont Blanc massif a strong team comprised of Julien Desecures, Jon Griffith, Corrado Pesce and Jeff Mercier climbed the “mixed modern” outing Full Love… for dry and ice up Aiguille du Peigne. And in China’s remote Shaluli Shan massif Dave Anderson and Szu-ting Yi ascended the unclimbed Kemailong (5870m). In the Manaslu region Serhiy Bublik and Mykola Shymko from the Ukraine made the first ascent of Simnang Himal (6251m) while Slovenian alpinists Nejc Marcic and Luka Strazar – winners of the Piolets d’Or for their ascent of K7 West – made a class first ascent up the West Face of Janak, the great 7090m peak in the Kanchenjunga area. More great Himalayan news – this time from India – in the form of another gem and one of the most beautiful climbs of the year: Mick Fowler and Paul Ramsden’s first ascent of The Prow of Shiva, a great new climb up Mount Shiva. 7 days ascent and 2 for the descent down the unclimbed south face east. Outstanding! But as we now know, with a punctuality that most would prefer to forget the end of the month brought with it the painful ordeal of Francesco Cantù, Damiano Barabino and Luca Gaggianese lost in the Écrins massif. All rescue efforts would turn out to be in vain, and he three Italian alpinists disappeared without a trace.

 

November 2012

Big ascents came from Kentucky, or rather from the Red River Gorge which seemed to have attracted all the biggest name in sport climbing. Jacopo Larcher sent his first 9a Southern Smoke Direct and also repeated Pure Imagination confirming Ondra’s downgrade to 8c+. Melissa Le Nevé was on form with outstanding ascents of 50 words for Pump 8c and Southern Smoke, thanks to which she joined the exclusive club of women capable of sending 8c+. Back in Europe, the Ticino bouldering map was enriched with new jewels – including Momentum Bavona 8C – by Nalle Hukkataival. Halfway through the month the Lead World Cup drew to a close and the last stage in Kranj resulted in overall victory for Mina Markovic and Sachi Amma. For both it was their first Trophy victory. But that weekend in Kranj will always be remembered for a different reason: On Friday 16 November Patrick Edlinger left us forever. But the beauty, visions, freedom with which he interpreted the game of climbing will always remain. Patrick was, and will remain, an unattainable legend. A teacher and traveling companion for all. From this we must go forward. With Sachi Amma for example, who after lifting the Lead World Cup “relaxed” on Siurana’s rocks with the superlative ascent of La Rambla 9a+. Alpinism got underway in Patagonia with a great trip up Mar de Suenos, the new route climbed in alpine style by Michael Lerjen-Demjen and Jorge Ackermann up the East Face of Fitz Roy. On the NE Face of Mont Rouge di Greuvetta (Mont Blanc massif) Britain’s Matt Helliker and Jon Bracey responded with the first ascent of the big modern mixed climb Eyes Wide Shut. While on Britain’s trad gritstone Jordan Buys freed the difficult and dangerous No Surrender at Baildon Bank in Yorkshire. In much the same vein, Pete Whittaker established Psychosomatic at Burbage South and De Nada at Halls Moor Quarry.The month ended with Tomahawk Crack in Scotland, a beautiful and difficult new route climbed by Greg Boswell and Adam Russell on Ben Nevis. Ever-active Michele Caminati freed The North Sail 8A+ at Cresciano in Switzerland. Of note is the great start to the extreme skiing season with the “usual” gang comprised of Julien Herry, Francesco Civra Dano, Luca Rolli and Davide Capozzi who, ahead of schedule, made the ski and snowboard descent of the Mallory route on Aiguille du Midi; a tour (without the cable car) which started and finished at Chamonix in 14 hours. A good warm-up to the rest of the season!

 

December 2012

We return to where it all began in 2012, to Patagonia. Over a period of 9 days, Lise Billon, François Poncet, Jeremy Stagnetto, Jerome Sullivan and Pedro Diaz made the first ascent of Pillar del Sol Naciente, a great 1000m route up the distant and immense Cerro Murallón. In doing so they created one of the most beautiful climbs of the year in the mountains at the end of the world. Patagonia again for Colin Haley and Jon Walsh who carried out the first free ascent of the mixed climb Tobogan up Cerro Standhardt. In Moab (USA) Jean-Pierre Ouellet established two difficult new crack climbs: Mexican Snow Fairy 5.13+ and Fisting the Crack 5.13-. Monumental Markus Bock continued his ceaseless quest of unlocking the Frankenjura’s vertical beauties by freeing four difficult new routes: Reunion (8c), The Obsessed (8c+), The 4 Horsemen (8c+) and Witchtripper (9a). On the bouldering front Nacho Sánchez added Zarzafar 8B+ to his long list of new problems “unearthed” in Spain, while in Italy’s Varazze Nicolò Ceria repeated Raptor Stand 8A+ and Gandalf 8A. Sports climbing was the name of the game for Jakob Schubert who repeated Ciudad de Dios 9a at Santa Linya. The end of the year brought with it two more goodbyes. 93-year-old Maurice Herzog, the first man together with Louis Lachenal to reach the summit of an 8000m peak, Annapurna. An entire era disappeared with his death. And painfully and prematurely Luigi “Gigi” Dal Pozzo left us; the great climber and alpinist from the Dolomites, his routes remain as monuments to totalising passion and ethics. And this leads us to present day, to action by Jacopo Larcher and his second 8b+ on-sight (at Montsant), as well as Gabriele Moroni on Jungle Speed and Silvio Reffo on Estado Critico, two 9a’s both at Siurana in Spain which is increasingly becoming the top sport climbing destination. This concludes this long resume of what happened in 2012. A way of remembering what happened, in order to not forget and to look forward. The alpinism and climbing tour will continue…!