The King of Fanes added to Col Bechei, Dolomites, by Simon Kehrer, Manuel Baumgartner

Shortly after lockdown ended I climbed in the Fanes group of the Dolomites once again to repeat some of the great routes I’d established in recent years with various different climbing partners. Once again I was totally awed by the quality of the rock, and of course I couldn’t help scanning the entire face and, as my eyes darted from left to right, I discovered a really beautiful line.

A few days later I managed to convince Manuel Baumgartner to climb the new route with me. So that’s how things went. The weather wasn’t the best, but with our jobs as mountain guides this is often the case; in order to fully enjoy our own climbing, we’ve got to take advantage of every moment we get, even if the weather isn’t ideal.

We made quick progress and immediately established the five pitches on fantastic rock. Since the weather was still ok and since we wanted to use all the time we had, we abseiled back down as quickly as possible and at the base of the wall we added a new pitch, a direct variant. This climbs very loose rock at the start, but then gets interesting. This variation start can be avoided by accessing the ramp either from the left or right, as we had done earlier that morning, and on the whole I’d say that we managed to establish a really good route. Back in the Fanes refuge, run by Max the hut warden, we discussed the grades of the pitches in front of the usual beer ;-)

After La Raieta, Ey de Net, La Salvana and Spina de Mul, The King of Fanes is now my fifth route on this amazing wall.

by Simon Kehrer

Links: SCARPA, Edelrid, Vaude, www.simon-kehrer.it

TOPO: The King of Fanes, Col Bechei, Dolomites