Dani Arnold solos Switzerland's Salbit Trilogy in under 10 hours

In 2010 Swiss mountaineer Dani Arnold took the climbing world by storm when he climbed the famous West Ridge of Salbitschijen in just 1 hour and 35 minutes. This feat up what is described as the longest and one of the best ridge climbs in the entire Alps marked the beginning of Arnold's professional career, and since then the professional mountain guide has made a name for himself for pushing the limits of the deadly game of solo climbing.  setting records followed on all six major north faces of the Alps in the process, ie the Matterhorn, Grandes Jorasses, Cima Grande, Pizzo Badile and Petit Dru.

On 11 June the 39-year-old returned to Salbitschijen to climb the South Ridge, then West Ridge and finally the East Ridge in quick succession. He set off at 3:50 am from the Salbithütte at 2105m and precisly 9 hours, 36 minutes and 55 seconds later returned to the hut, having negotiated more then 70 pitches across 1500 vertical meters of complex alpine terrain and maximum difficulties up to 6b. Arnold switched back and forth between mountain boots and climbing shoes six times to ensure optimal footwear for the terrain, and on the descent from the summit he encountered a lot of snow, requiring extra attention.

Arnold, who described his ascent as "a dream come true", explained to planetmountain.com "So much started with my fast ascent on the Salbit west ridge... in the past I've made many speed ascents of the south and east ridges, but I never really got round to talking about them. Last Sunday I decided to do things a bit differently and filmed and talked about my ascent as it happened. I could actually have gone a lot faster had I wanted to, but setting a record wasn't the main goal. These three ridges are very special for me and the time had finally come to enjoy them all together in one single push."

It goes without saying that this is the fastest known time for Salbit trilogy. The first winter ascent of this trilogy was carried out by Lukas Hinterberger and Michael Wohlleben on 15 and 16 February 2023.

THE SIX NORTH FACES OF THE ALPS CLIMBED BY DANI ARNOLD
2011 Eiger, Heckmair route 2 hours 28 minutes
2015 Matterhrn, Schmid route 1 hour 46 minutes
2016 Pizzo Badile Via Cassin, 52 minutes
2018 Grandes Jorasses Via Cassin, 2 hours 4 minutes
2019 Cima Grande di Lavaredo, Via Comici - Dimai, 46 minutes
2021 Petit Dru, Voie Allain-Leininger, 1 hour 43 minutes

Link: www.daniarnold.ch, Petzl, SCARPA, MSR Gear