Western Nepal, first ascent of Lukeko Baref 6122m

Did you know that "Himalaya" means the "abode of the snow" in Sanskrit? Fittingly, this fall there was too much snow in the Himalaya. Our dreams of steep faces plastered with sticky neve were buried by massive amount of fresh snow. What followed was an epic in trail breaking and an exercise in teamwork.

Grandes Jorasses North Face. Twice

I pulled out my jacket from the backpack and set it up as a little tent above my head. It was a minor respite. The spindrift prevented sleep until early morning. In a few hours we were going to get out of our sleeping bags and start climbing but the falling snowflakes planted seeds of doubts in my head. I had approached the Grandes Jorasses north face three times already and had to walk out empty-handed all three times. Was the fourth try going to be different?

Piz Polaschin. Once upon a time on Julier

As we were skinning up from the Julier pass towards a beautiful rocky face of Piz Polaschin, my backpack was huge. Mainly, because I packed a pair of boots that are meant for climbing the 8000 meter peaks in the greater ranges. The plan was to test equipment and train for a fall trip to the Himalaya. While the expedition evaporated into the ether of Covid-19 uncertainty, our climb turned out to be a great adventure itself.

The final pitches up the Polaschin. See the tape on the red rope?

Dru North Face

Before Pierre Allain and Raymond Leininger climbed the north face of the Dru for the first time, their training was on the boulders of Fontainebleau. My plan was to copy their approach

Cyrill on the summit of Petit Dru.

Granite Rematches: Inox, Grand Capucin and Chandelle du Tacul

Oftentimes the climbs you remember most vividly are not the ones you succeed on, but rather the ones where you come short. I often catch myself talking about an unclimbed peak in the Revelations that Frieder I and could not climb despite three attempts. I still daydream what it would be like to go back there.

At the same time, having failed on routes - they become easy choices for planning the next trip. This summer, with little time for planning new things, it was about the rematches.

Back on the Grand Capucin

Climbing in Oman

With a few hours left until the new year, we were preparing our dinner and sorting out the food. The mood was vibrant with us whistling cheerful tunes and sharing smiles. But then it hit us – we had neither forks, nor spoons, nor any other utensils to eat our gourmet meal. And it wouldn’t be so easy to get them now since we were bivying on a midway ledge up the Jebel Misht – perhaps the highest rock face in Arabia.

North Face of Piz Badile and the Fridge-Trip

The weather was meant to be good for the next few days when I rolled into the Bergamo Airport. Waiting for my friend to land, I was hoping that we could finally try to climb the famous Voie Cassin on the northeast face of the Badile peak - a plan we had hatched almost a decade ago.