David Lama: the Valsertal Sagzahn - Verschneidung video

In February 2018 the Austrian alpinists David Lama and Peter Mühlburger ventured into "one of the coldest holes in Tyrol", the small Valsertal valley not far from the Italian border where they completed the mixed route Sagzahn - Verschneidung. This route tackles the 800m North Face of Sagwand, was graded M6/A2 and came about after Lama’s three previous attempts.

In many respects this valley is Lama's "winter retreat": after discovering it in summer 2008 while making the first ascent of Desperation of the North Face with Jorg Verhoeven, he returned in winter 2012 to make the solo first ascent of Badlands (700m, 6a M5 WI4 A1). In March 2013 he teamed up with Hansjörg Auer and Peter Ortner to carry out the first winter ascent of Sagwand, in May that year he soloed the Mittelpfeiler route up Sagwand while in December he established Nordverschneidung up Hohe Kirche solo. A few weeks after completing Sagzahn - Verschneidung featured in the video below, Lama returned on his own to make the solo first ascent of Nord Pfeiler up the North Face of Hohe Kirche.




Link: www.david-lama.com, La Sportiva, The North Face