Dripping Elegance
New, elegant mixed line at Ötztal...
It was high time, that was already clear at our first touch with this project. The south facing exposure, with direct sunlight from early morning onto mid afternoon, as well as the dark granite slabs did not really stay for long life of this ice formation. But we were lucky, a cold front with artic temperatures, the solar eclipse and a flexible timetable have been the reason that we could end this project safely. By crouising trough the Ötztal I already saw this line several times before, but only with the motivation of the jung local Gerry Fiegl the idea was transformed into action. On perfect winter conditions we started on December 26th in our usual style, ground up, into this adventure. After a thin first pitch a huge rock roof defines the crux of the line. The key to get to the entry of the roof is to climb smoth and soft on very thin ice with low protection. We placed bolts only at the steep roof to protect the powerful moves properly. For the exit into the ice, someone should have some power left, the dripping curtain does not only give the name of the route, but also stands for a hard end of the crux. To climb the line redpoint we were back at January 2nd. During light snowfall the curtain did not drip very much, it seemed like we were inveted to climb it. The ice did not get any better since last time, but therefore our climbing did work out perfectly. We both could redpoint the route within short time. Because of the predicted thaw period we had to hurry to bring the dripping elegance onto some pictures. With the help of the partial solar eclipse at January 4th we had enough shadow for this job. Not much dripping but with amazing light conditions we ended this day with a big smile on our faces.
Pics by Hannes Mair - www.alpsolut.com