Simon Gietl, Manuel Oberarzbacher establish 'Hybrid' mixed climb on Sella, Dolomites

The two South Tyrolean mountain guides Simon Gietl and Manuel Oberarzbacher have made a cracking start to the winter season with first ascent of a spectacular mixed climb below the Gardena Pass of the Italian Dolomites. Located on the dark and damp Mur de Pisciadù on the Sella massif, the four-pitch outing provides difficulties up to WI5+ and M8+ and runs to the left of the historic Schwarze Wand, established in 1967 by Heinz Steinkötter and his wife Vittoria Frismon, and its winter equivalent called Mur de Pisciadù Eisfall and climbed in 2015 by Manuel and Martin Baumgartner.

The story behind the first ascent is interesting. The pair had originally met on 2 December with another goal in mind, but their car slid off the road. Fortunately no one was injured, but after requiring 3 hours to get the car back on the road there was no time to do anything else and, instead, think about a new goal, namely the black face of Mur de Pisciadù. The climbers returned on 9 December and established the first mixed pitch, 25 meters of M5. However, halfway up the second pitch they realised that they had both forgotten their ice screws and, unable to proceed, they descended and returned on 12 December. Armed with plenty of ice screws this time, they completed the second pitch, 30 beautiful meters of M8 WI6, and also the third pitch, a 20 meters of pure ice perfection, graded WI5+. This brought them to the crux pitch: a thin crack led below the hanging drip which had to be breached to reach the rest of the flow. After 25 meters of M8+/WI5+ they reached the last belay.

The duo returned on 13 December to make the first free ascent of their Hybrid; all the pegs used for the first ascent were left in-situ, while all trad gear (cams and ice screws) were placed during the redpoint. It is worth noting that the route was repeated on the 17th and 18th of December by Daniel Ladurner - Alex Piazzalunga and Greg Boswell - Jonathan Joly respectively, who confirmed the beauty of the climb.