It’s possibly the most recognizable view in the northern Italian Dolomites. Elite rock climbers have opened dozens of difficult routes on its faces. But this past July, Micha Rinn and Chistian Bickel completed the Skyline Traverse of all the summits in what the climbers believe is a world’s first.
The Cime di Lavaredo have been traversed several times both from east to west, across Cima Piccolissima, Punta Frida and Cima Piccola. The west to east route has been done too, starting with the Cima Ovest, and then Cima Grande, Cima Piccola, Punta Frida, and Cima Piccolissima.
However, the Skyline Traverse climbs the complete skyline of Tre Cime from the western Forcella Col di Mezzo over all nine peaks to the eastern Forcella Lavaredo, Micha Rinn explained.
The pair prepared part of the route with some rappel anchors and a new rappel line down Torre Comici. They then climbed the route on July 23-24 in a 23-hour push that featured a bivouac in heavy rain in a cave after Cima Ovest.
In the end, they successfully completed the 2,030 vertical meters and the following list of summits:
Starting point: Forcella Col di Mezzo, 2,315m
1. Torre Lavaredo foresummit, 2,500m
2. Torre Lavaredo, 2,536m
3. Sasso di Landro, 2,763m
4. Torre Comici, 2,780m
5. Cima Ovest, 2,973m
6. Cima Grande, 2,999m
7. Cima Piccola, 2,857m
8. Punta di Frieda, 2,792m
9. Cima Piccolissima, 2,700m
Finish: Forcella Lavaredo, 2,454m
“Even a broken rope from rockfall in the rappel gorge after the fourth summit on Torre Comici couldn’t stop us,” Rinn noted.
“We didn’t want to set a new speed record on Tre Cime, nor climb the highest difficulties, but rather climb one of the most obvious lines, the Tre Cime skyline from pass to pass,” Rinn told PlanetMountain.
