Il Cigno Nero, new mixed climb on Cima Falkner in Brenta Dolomites

I've been wanting to establish a new route in my backyard mountains for some time now. My idea was to wait until I've gained enough experience in the mountains, and as such I first wanted to repeat a series of routes established ground-up in order to get a comprehensive understanding of the ethics that dictate the various climbing styles. I'd set myself the personal rule of climbing as clean as possible, preferably with trad gear and pegs only to equip the belays, possibly also for the abseils. Clearly I needed to find a wall that would be compatible with this style of ascent.

About a week ago I made a ski mountaineering trip into the Brenta Dolomites and I noticed the beautiful north-east face of Cima Falkner. Solid black slabs were crisscrossed with tongues of ice that traced a logical line leading up to the summit. After searching the internet and asking some mountain guides I got the good news, there were no other routes there, what a privilege! I quickly messaged my friend Federico Asciolla, who already has plenty of experience at establishing new routes, and we made the decision to attempt the line as soon as possible. We'd see how far we could get climbing ground-up.

A few days later we were at the Grostè cable car with 2 sets of cams, some short screws and a handful of pegs. The weather really wasn't on our side, the storm had arrived early and it began to snow heavily. But it was the only day we were both free, and so we pushed on, highly motivated. After skinning through fresh snow for almost 2 hours we finally reached the base of the first ice drip. The adventure was about to begin!

Federico led the first pitch entirely on ice, I saw that he was having fun, then he belayed on ice screws and I followed. As a connoisseur of dark Dolomite rock I suggested I take the lead on the next pitches; Fede agreed and I was in infinitely grateful. I put my heart and soul into every single move, fully enjoy my progression. The ice accepted some short screws, while I managed to place cams in the rock. There was no shortage of delicate run-outs, and spindrifts slammed me straight in the face slowing me down, what a pain!

The 3rd pitch is noteworthy, it took me for a good 1 hour and a half to breath dubious quality rock and the sections of thin ice. I reached the belay physically and mentally exhausted. Luckily the next two pitches, despite being fairly challenging, were dispatched with quickly and were well-protected. The last challenging pitch forced me to depart from the logical line of ice because this was unprotectable; I moved left to good crack and proceeded to torque my way up a beautiful series of jams. I exited onto the last drip on the upper ledge and happily set up the last belay. Now only 100 easy meters separated us from the top. There we hugged each other. All over!? The answer was no!

The light started to fade, the weather got worse, the wind picked up, the spindrift became more and more violent and on top of that we were cold and soaking wet. We quickly rappelled and returned to the ski stash. I started to have a physical and mental meltdown, luckily Fede felt strong and helped me sort out the gear. We put on our skis and set off. Obviously in the storm and darkness we couldn't make out how to get off the mountain, luckily though we had prepared the GPS tracks. Federico guided me like a perfect rally co-driver, amazing. Go right! Now left! A few more degrees the other way! I kept wondering when this suffering would ever end.

At 7:00 pm we finally reached the Stoppani hut. Sara, the really kind barmaid who had already finished her shift and was about to go to bed, welcomed us in. We are and drank in front of a fireplace, and while Federico chatted with the other guests I took a quick nap and hoped the exhaustion and nausea would go away. After an hour I felt decidedly better, aaaah that's more like it!

From there we embarked on a good half-hour skiing down the slopes in complete darkness, relying on our beloved GPS track to guide through the night. And then all of a sudden we were with some very drunk skiers at the Apres Ski in Madonna di Campiglio. Now we could finally say it out loud: we did it!!!

I felt like crying with joy. I never would have thought that my first route would be like this, and even for Fede this was the first route of this kind. Perhaps it was a somewhat ambitious and reckless project, but fortunately it went well. After all, we were in the mountains, and they're what drive us on so passionately. Fede and I can only thank Mother Nature for what she gave us. What a privilege.

by Enrico Lovato

Link: Instagram Enrico Lovato, Instagram Federico Asciolla