Hybrid is not the hardest mixed route Simon Gietl has opened, but it’s definitely one of the most beautiful, he told ExplorersWeb.
Gietl opened the new line last weekend at the Pisciadu wall in the Sella Dolomites. The route includes sections up to M8 and requires considerable mental strength.
How it happened
Cima Pisciadu and its walls lie in the heart of the Sella Dolomites. Google Maps
It all started with a car accident, the South Tyrolean mountain guide Manuel Oberarzbacher explained. He and Simon Gietl were driving to the ice-climbing walls when their car slipped on the icy road and spun out into the snowy roadside. It took them two hours to free it. It spoiled the climbing day, but the two men had time to discuss potential projects over a cup of coffee.
Oberarzbacher mentioned the so-called Schwartze Wand (Black Wall) on Groedner Joch, a summer route on the Mur de Pisciadu, near Gardena Pass in the Dolomites. Winter conditions were reportedly excellent. “Why not try something new [there]?” Oberarzbacher suggested.
On December 9, the pair went to the base of the wall and set off right away. “The beginning was promising,” Oberarzbacher wrote. “Beautiful, positive holes and ledges.”
They made rapid progress, but as soon as they reached the ice, they realized that they had forgotten their ice screws.
That was how a second good climbing day was also ruined.
The next chance came on December 12.
On the wall
This time, Oberarzbacher and Gietl were prepared and equipped. They started to the left of the Schwartze Wand. After a quick first pitch, they got to the real work on the second pitch, with sections of mixed climbing (M8) and ice (WI6). The climbers recall the third pitch as an enjoyable, beautiful part completely on ice (WI5+). The crux was right ahead, on the fourth pitch.
An aesthetic ice section of ‘Hybrid.’ Photo: Silvan Metz
The fourth rope length was the most difficult, said the climbers. It followed a crack that took them right under a cluster of free-hanging icicles they had to cross.
“The fourth rope length was the key to the entire route,” Oberarzbacher said. “Technically demanding, it required determined climbing and absolute focus.”
The route ended at the top of the icicles, totaling 100m of climbing. Difficulty grades, pitch by pitch, are M5, M8/WI6, WI5+, M8+/WI5+. Oberarzbacher and Gietl free-climbed the route entirely, with some Friends and six ice screws but no bolts. As PlanetMountain notes, it is a “modern” route that includes long sections on compact rock, alternating with the little ice adhering to the cracks and ledges.
Route topo, pitch by pitch. Topo by the climbers. Photo: Silvan Metz
The community repeats and approves
Gietl’s Instagram posts about the new route drew admiring comments from Quentin Roberts, Francois Cazzanelli, and many others. Yet Gietl especially values the verdict from the first pairs who repeated Hybrid a few days later. They were demanding judges, but the verdict was enthusiastic.
Local climbers Alex Piazzalunga and Daniel Ladurner were the first to try the new line, and they sent it on the first try.
“The name reflects the characteristics of the [beautiful] route, a perfect mix of rock and glacier drawn on the wall of the Pisciadu,” Piazzalunga noted.
The second pair were Scottish aces Greg Boswell and Jonathan Joly, who were spending a week ice climbing in the Dolomites. After the climb, Boswell wrote, “So good. Thanks for the creation. It made us very happy!”
Boswell also posted a video and commented on his own social media:
