Sass di Stria black magic by Michal Coubal, Martin Tučka

I'm standing on a flat stone in the stream under the wall and it's slowly getting dark. The temperature is above zero, but not by much.

I tried to place as few bolts as possible all day, but nevertheless a few holes had to be drilled. And now I am completely covered in that sticky limestone dust.

If you're not out climbing, it's pretty cold for mid-June. Every now and then, flakes of ice drummed on our helmets, but the main thing is that the rock was dry. I remember how last year, on the morning of June 6, my neighbor Luboš left his cottage in Šluknov and discovered frost on the windshield of his car again. He raised his eyes to the sky, stretched out his arms and shouted: "You must be kidding..."

The first 3 pitches of the route are up grey, solid rock. From the 4th pitch onwards, the terrain steepens significantly and the climbing continues past white and orange rock. The perpendicular, slightly overhanging cracks on pitch 4 are beautiful.

I'd observed the fifth pitch with some concern years ago with Anna during the first ascent of Papilio, about 25m to the right. First white, with partially friable terrain, then an orange chute to the left of a large, prominent overhang. But as always, the view was deceptive and with a little finesse this section provided some pleasant climbing. The pitch that followed pitch is definitely the nicest: an orange wall with small holds, that then leads to cracks and slightly overhanging layback.

Descending from the summit back to the base is like visiting a World War 1 museum in the wild. Trenches, old ditches, lots of slowly decaying wooden reinforcements and barbed wire. Some years ago I sat here sitting here with Anna and it was easy to perceive the atmosphere of this place. That characteristic and immutable human quality, creation and destruction!

by Michal Coubal

TOPO: Magia Nera, Sass di Stria, Dolomites