UKC

Dolomites 8c - Bellavista for Luka Krajnc

© Urban Golob
Slovenian climber Luka Krajnc has made the fourth complete free ascent of Bellavista on Cima Ovest di Lavaredo, Dolomites, Italy.

Luka Krajnc close to the end of the hardest pitch of Belavista.  © Urban Golob
Luka Krajnc close to the end of the hardest pitch of Belavista.
© Urban Golob

Luka started to work on the route at the end of June this year, but conditions in the first half of the summer season were not in his favour. Bad weather and moisture under the roof caused him a lot of problems and made the hardest pitches very slippery most of July. On three of his visits Luka couldn't even seriously try the hardest pitch, since the rock was wet and that was impossible to see from the start of the route.

Luka on the fourth pitch.  © Urban Golob
Luka on the fourth pitch.
© Urban Golob

Luka spent 10 days working the route and then finally sunny August came. August 21st was a very hot day with surprisingly dry air it all came together perfectly. Leading every pitch Luka climbed the hardest (8c) pitch on his first try and the next - 8a pitch - on his second, since he did not pay so much attention to it in the period of working the route.

Everything else went smoothly including the following pitches on the Swiss and Cassin route right to the top of Cima Ovest.

Luka on the hardet pitch (8c) of the route.  © Urban Golob
Luka on the hardet pitch (8c) of the route.
© Urban Golob

Luka on the first crux of the hardest pitch.  © Urban Golob
Luka on the first crux of the hardest pitch.
© Urban Golob
Luka commented: "Even the wildest dreams can come true, but only if we wish for them hard enough."

But Luka will not rest much after his success in Bellavista, next week he is already boarding a plane towards USA and after two months of climbing in the 'Wild West' he will join a small Slovenian expedition to Venezuelan big walls.

Luka Krajnc, who just turned 25, is not really a newcomer when it comes to hard multipitches. He spent much of his last summers climbing on the Tre Cime where he repeated several hard routes including Camillotto Pellesier (8a+, 500m), Superdirettissima (7c, 500m) and Sandro Pertini (FFA, 7c,200m) on Cima Grande, Akut (7c, 500m) on Cima Ovest and others all over the Dolomites including Donnafugata (8a, 750m) on Torre Trieste, Vint ani Do (8a, 350m) on Meisules, Via Italia (7c+, 350m) on Piz Ciavazes and many others.

His season this year started on Triglav North face in January where he and his partner Andrej Grmovšek managed to climb Sanjski Joža (M7+, 1000m, 3days), making it one of the hardest winter testpieces in Slovenia. In March he carried on, free climbing Alain-Leininger (M7, 900m, 2days) on the Dru. After the winter season he focused on sport climbing and multipiches including a one day ascent of Spider (8a,350m) in Croatia, and repeated the hardest Slovenian trad route, Vražji Robert (8b, 150m) in Osp.

In the past years he traveled all over Europe and also made trips to USA and Morroco. High level in the mountains in summer and winter conditions, including sport climbs up to 8c and mix climbs up to M13-, make him one of the best Slovenian all-rounders.


This post has been read 9,837 times

Return to Latest News


13 Sep, 2011
Wow. Great effort Luka! I climbed with him at the international meet in Cornwall last year and it was obvious he was very talented and very motivated. He was bordering on obsessed with custard however, which was a litle strange.
14 Sep, 2011
Dosen't surprise me, he's dedicated & very talented so it was only a matter of time, but the custard?? Must be a secret training aid?
14 Sep, 2011
Fabulous photos by the way - definitely some 5 star material. The exposure looks immense!
14 Sep, 2011
looks very scary ... r those trad placements on the 8c ??
Loading Notifications...
Facebook Twitter Copy Email