Robin Avanthay & Jon Murua
Damokles, Breitwangflue, Kandersteg
ED+ M7+
23.1.2021
Extreme alpinist
Transcript:
This route is generally a mixed route with delicate dry tooling to jump into the ice.
This year however, the waterfall was fully formed all the way to the bottom!
Many teams had climbed it this season given the exceptional conditions.
That was beautiful!
My partner Robin climbed the first easy pitch without any problems.
The second pitch set the scene already.
It was covered on snow and I couldn't find the holds or where to protect.
That was a mental game!
After a while battling with the snow, I reached the ice which was extremely dedicate. It was very thin and detached from the rock.
That was scary!
Unable to protect I had to climb extremely softly not to collapse the waterfall.
I decided to keep climbing and connect the second and third pitch again.
The third pitch felt also pretty hard as the ice had taken the shape of plenty of small mushrooms which were weak and délicate.
I arrived full of adrenaline to the anchor.
Just beside the overhanging ice and the seriously delicate dry tooling section.
Robin started, but he ended up leaving to me the pleasure to lead this gorgeous pitch.
Delicate dry tooling moves on millimetric holds to jump into the plastic ice.
Amazing!
I could reach the bolts from the ice which gives extra security.
The exist is seriously overhanging.
There were a set of mushrooms protected by sharp stalactites. What an ambience!
The crux is rated M7+, but I thought it was much harder.
The rock was broken and many of the holds could no longer be used. This forced me to improvise and use sketchy holds that were really far apart.
I jumped into the ice after 3 bolts to continue this steep and long cigar.
The ice, partly melted from a heatwave created many cavities allowing me to jam arms, legs and even my heaps to have rests.
I also managed to climb with bare hands some sections to relax the forearms.
It took me a whole hour to climb this pitch!
I actually run out of ice screws 15 metres from the top. That was mental!
By the time Robin arrived, it was getting dark and it started snowing.
We thought it was not worth it to push to the summit in the dark. We had climbed the beautiful cigar and mixed climbing crux so we felt satisfied.
It was also nice to enjoy the rappels with light. What ambience! So overhanging!
Look at those stalactites!
Have fun in the mountains, and be safe!
Music credits:
Music: Hey! - Bensound
www.bensound.com
Support by RFM - NCM: bit.ly/2xGHypM
• Cjbeards - Fire and Th...
Music: Dreams - Bensound
www.bensound.com
Support by RFM - NCM: bit.ly/2xGHypM
21 фев 2021
