Bubu Bole and Anna Torretta dry tooling at Ueschinen

Mauro Bubu Bole repeats No limits M12+ and Anna Torretta climbs Vertical Limits M12 at Ueschinen, Switzerland

February 2004

In mid February the Italians Anna Torretta and Mauro Bubu Bole paid a four-day visit to Ueschinen, Switzerland's current dry tooling hot spot, walking away with some of the crag's top prizes.

Mauro Bole opened the waltz with a fast repeat of "No Limits", Robert Jasper's recent extension of "Vertical Limit" M12. The new route in question is a staggering 45m long and weighs in at a probable M12+.

Bole's ascent came immediately after that of Spaniard Israel Blanco, who is currently on tour in Switzerland and Italy, with hard repeats such as Mission Impossible on his 2004 ticklist.

Anna Torretta on the other hand had her sights firmly set on Vertical Limit, sending the route on 13 February after a marathon one-hour ascent. A few days later she travelled to Val di Cogne, where she on-sighted the crux second pitch of "Empire strikes back", the "historic" M11 first climbed by Stevie Haston way back in ...2000.

Dry tooling, Ueschinen, Switzerland

Dry tooling - a brief history by Anna Torretta
The must-do reference climbs include "The Empire Strikes Back" and "X-files" by Stevie Haston, and "Mission Impossible" by Mauro Bole.

Empire, X-files and Mission all contributed significantly to the evolution of modern mixed climbing in Europe. Mission, unlike the others though, is a perfect line of mixed climbing, quite simply beautiful both to look at and to climb. Vertical Limits is a route that can be climbed in summer, and the ice just acts as a pretext. Mission can only be climbed in winter when it comes into condition, without ice it's impossible. These are the characteristics that make Mission, by common consent, "the mixed route par excellance."

The grades applied to mixed routes are currently being analysed by some of the top activists, and it is because of this that climbers such as Bubu and Jasper have tried not to inflate the grades or add a question mark to be confirmed. The question mark refers to: is it possible to hold on to the ice tools forever? Does M13 exist? What is the grade comprised of? Length? The longest move? The precaciousness of holds?
Next on the agenda is a trip to Canada and Banff, to check out the world's first M13. Answers soon.

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	archive Vertical Limit
	archive Anna Torretta
	archivie Bubu Bole
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Top: Ueschinen
Right: Anna Torretta climbing Vertical limit, and Israel Blanco in action at Ueschinen.
Photos Andrea Gallo.

Portfolio

Ueschinen (Switzerland, Kandersteg) was discovered two years ago by Markus Stoffer and now has more than 20 routes from M6 to M12. Ueschinen is the home of Vertical Limit, the second “M12” in the world after Will Gadd's Mushashi in Canada.

Ueschinen is a paradise for stalactites. But ice is a living element, changing shape and size continuosly. The stalactites form and then fall. They are nice to look at, but one has to bear in mind that, sooner or later, gravity always wins! This means maximum attention is required when walking beneath them. A month ago Maikel Van Sundert died at Ueschinen while opening a new route. An enormous block of ice hit his helmet. A 20kg lump of ice that falls from 10m can kill. A thought goes out to Maikel.