Colossal Dolomites enchainment by Dani Arnold, Simon Gietl

The fast day out in the Dolomites undertaken by Dani Arnold of Switzerland and Simon Gietl of the South Tyrol almost went by unnoticed, despite the impressive nature of their feat. Making the most of the amazing weather, on Friday 9 August the pair raced up three huge north faces on Einserkofel (also know as Cima Una), up Zwölferkofel (also referred to as Croda dei Toni or Cima Dodici) and Cima Grande di Lavaredo.

Both alpinists are not new to such feats - Arnold has in many ways built his entire career on speed climbs across the entire Alps and in 2019 he soloed the famous Comici - Dimai on Cima Grande di Lavaredo in just 46 minutes, while Gietl is one of the most active in the Dolomites, especially on his home turf. This however was the first time that the two had climbed together. To be precise, they teamed up for the first time three weeks earlier, initially to scout Einserkofel, then a second time a week later to check out Zwölferkofel.

Arnold and Gietl set off at 4 a.m. on 9 August and climbed the north face of Cima Una in 3 hours and 38 minutes. They opted for the 800m Weg der Jugend and predominantly simul-climbed. After descending the normal route and walking to the base of the north face of Zwölferkofel, they climbed the 700m Schranzhofer route in a record time of 2 hours and 58 minutes. They descended the normal route and continued on foot to the north face of Cima Grande di Lavaredo, where they needed a mere 2 hours and 54 minutes to climb the 550m classic Comici - Dimai. They reached the summit at 7 p.m., significantly faster than the 24 hours they had set themselves.

All that remained was to descend the normal route to the base of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, walk over the Forcella Lavaredo col and continue down Fischleintal / Val Fiscalina. After another 10.5 kilometers and 2 hours and 56 minutes they reached the Talschlusshütte, just before Sexten, in time for the obligatory celebrations. In total they had walked almost 30 kilometers, dealt with 4700 meters of ascent and descent and breached 75 pitches past difficulties up to grade VII.