Simon Gietl, Fairplay new route on Piz Boè, Dolomites

After returning from a trip to Greenland together with Roger Schali and Daniel Kopp which resulted in their new route Eventyr, Simon Gietl decided to concentrate on his first love once again, the Italian Dolomites.

Over the course of the summer the 26-year-old carried out a series of daring solos (listed below) and also established Fairplay in Val Badia (230m, 7 pitches, 10-). The route in question is located in the Vallon Sella group on Piz Boè (2908m) and was climbed from the ground up without the use of bolts and with just trad gear and pegs as protection, hence the name. Gietl forged the line together with Klaus Gruber in early July and after three days working the pitches redpointed the route on 08 October.

He told Planetmountain "Just like with all my other first ascents in the Dolomites, what was important on Fairplay was the style in which it was established. This for me translates into climbing the route from the ground-up, exclusively with pegs and trad gear, and no bolts despite the difficulties up to 9+/10-. Another aspect which is really important is to follow a natural line, of course!"

As to other hard climbs in the Dolomites, he stated "Last summer I repeated La perla preziosa (IX+, Nicola Tondini, Nicola Sartori, Michele Zandegiacomo 2008) and Silberschrei (7c, Hansjörg Auer, Thomas Schreiber, 2009 ) on the Sass de la Crusc. Both were extremely demanding and I always really enjoy repeating routes of this calibre because I'm certain that as long as routes are established in this manner, then alpinism will continue to be alive. Congratulations to the first ascentionists!"

Dolomites summer 2010
Pressknödl (IX) Cima Ovest, Tre Cime di Lavaredo - repeat with Mark Artesi
La mia Preghiera (IX-) Sass da Putia - repeat with Patrick Seiwald,
Ötzi trifft Yeti VIII+ Cima Piccola, solo 4h37min, 07/10/10
Fairplay (IX+/X-) - redpoint, 08/10/10
Egger-Sauscheck (VI+) Cima Piccola, solo, 09/10/10
Via del Ricordi (7+), Comici (VI), Cassin (VII-) Cima Piccolissima, Spigolo Giallo (VI+) on 12/10/10
Costantini-Apollonio (VII+) 550m in 2h46min, Tofana di Rozes
Costantini-Ghedina (VI-) 550hm in 1h23min, Tofana di Rozes
Primo Spigolo (V+) 450hm in 54min, Tofana di Rozes
For all solos Gietl uses a harness, a 40m kevlar rope, a handful of carabiners, a small trad rack, first aid kit and food.

Fairplay
Piz Boè (2908m) Vallon Sella Group, Dolomites
First ascent: Simon Gietl & Klaus Gruber 01/07/2010.
First free ascent: Simon Gietl 08/10/2010
Grade: 10-
Length: 230m, 7 pitches,
Pitches: P1: 9+/10-, P2: 8+/9-, P3: 7, P4: 8, P5: 8-, P6: 8, P7: 4+