UKC

Nalle Hukkataival has teamed up with fellow Finn Tomi Nytorp and repeated Beat Kammerlander's 1993 über classic multi-pitch Silbergeier at the Kirchlispitze, Rätikon, Switzerland.
It should be said that Nalle is no stranger to highballs, but the 240m Silbergeier is tall even by his standards.

I...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=68995

In reply to UKC News:

But did he do the sit-down start?

In reply to UKC News:

I wish I lacked that kind of all-day endurance as well!

Awesome.

Contender for biggest non-news story of the year? Not taking away the achievement of climbing 8b+, but the route was first climbed in 1994 and saw initial repeats in 1997 (Shäffler), 1998 (Glowacz) and 1999 (Pietro Dal Pra and Jörg). The first female ascent was in 2011 (Caprez).

Just because its a boulderer...big woo. Slow news day and feeling the need to pander to sponsors perchance?

In reply to HStudierende:

I thought it was quite interesting. It would be a bit like Usain Bolt clocking a pretty decent time in a marathon. I'd be interested to read about that too.

In reply to GDes:

Yeah, me too. It was certainly a hundred times more interesting than reading about some revolutionary new shoes that were 'designed around the anatomy of the foot'.

In reply to jon:

I guess there is novelty value in it being Nalle's first proper multipitch route, which he mentioned in his facebook post. Having said that Tomi is hardcore and has done the first ascent of many (most?) of Finland's hardest routes both sport and trad, so he's no stranger to these sort of grades even if there is nothing on that scale up here!

In reply to HStudierende:

Perhaps you operate in a much higher rarefied sphere of climbing than a punter like myself.

To the vast majority of climbers this is probably quite interesting and still an inspiring achievement.

Please let us know when you have finished your multipitch 9b+ project so we have something to be truly inspired by.

In reply to Richard White:

Silbergeier is one of my all time dream routes - i would love to climb that. Looks amazing. Might have to up the level a bit though!!

One of (the best of?) the famous Alpine Trilogy. Never been climbed by a Brit either. Really great to see these things being repeated.

And Calum Muskett is on it right now - trying for an ascent with Wiz Fineron.

Good luck to them both! Go on lads!

Jack

In reply to Jack Geldard - UKC Chief Editor:

Yes, definitely, good luck to Calum and Wiz.

It's great and really inspiring to see anybody trying routes like that. The level of mental commitment to keep going and the endurance required is very impressive.

If you get fit enough, I'll be happy to hold your ropes... I'll certainly take my jumars though!

Rich.

In reply to Richard White:

The previous post did not intend to question the quality of the route or achievement. However, newsworthiness was questioned. To elaborate:

This is about the 16th ascent of the route after: Kammerlander, Shaffler, Glowacz, Pietro Dal Prà, Jörg, Pou, Berger, Benes, Ondra, Favresse, Lachat, Caprez, Prinoth, Pouvreau and Zangerl. Nalle is undoubtedly in good company. The route is 8b+, 9a has been on-sighted (admittedly not multi-pitch) and half of the team (Tomi Nytorp) has already climbed 9a. This does not diminish the achievement, for which I will offer congratulations. However, one can pose the question of whether this ascent can be considered really technically cutting edge and at what point a repeat of a route is a rare or newsworthy event.

The novelty is, of course, in the fact that a boulderer climbed it. However, the content of the story (or lack thereof) barely expands on anything more than that Nalle has a lack ‘of all-day endurance’, which is hardly a surprise.

Good luck to Calum and Wiz, indeed good luck to anyone climbing anything.

In reply to HStudierende:



By your logic, an ascent by them would be even less newsworthy but I would be keen to hear about it.

In reply to HStudierende:


And that it was his first proper multipitch route.

But I suppose the real 'newsworthyness' is that he reported it on his social media channels so we all heard about it and that he put a picture out into the public realm meaning people writing up the ascent could add a photo to their report. Not sure how many of those other climbers you listed are pros in the sense they want/need to get coverage to fulfill their commitments to their sponsors. I was idly googling earlier and saw that Tomi for instance is a professional carpenter and furniture maker (and has some beautiful looking pieces on his company's website!) and I've cycled past his workshop on many occasions without realising it.

In reply to HStudierende:

I know of a few more rp ascents of local people who are not in the list. Of course, they go under the radar. So the route certainly has over 20 ascents by now. Still found it interesting to read about Nalle's ascent. Good luck also to the Brits.

However, what I find a bit more questionable is the tactics which are used (without blaming someone specifically). The route is equipped with fixed ropes, (very) long fixed quickdraws and is worked/climbed in pieces and bits.

I would find it more pure if all the climbing in such routes was done ground-up, without any pre-placed gear and without littering the place with fixed ropes, the use of film crews or even helicopters for rigging the stuff. The same holds for the Caprez-Digulian controversy, if they climbed ground-up and without all the faff as it was proper, there wouldn't be any issue.

Btw, yes I was there in Rätikon this last weekend.