Zero climbed on Torre del Lago (Dolomites) by Simon Gietl, Andrea Oberbacher

The two Italian mountain guides Simon Gietl and Andrea Oberbacher got off to an early start in the Dolomites this summer with the first ascent of Zero up the southeast arete of the picturesque Torre del Lago (2654m). Gietl had noticed the logical line while establishing Can you Hear Me? on nearby Cima Scotoni and, incredulous that the arete proper was still untouched, he teamed up early on 28 May with habitual climbing parter Oberbacher.

On reaching the base of the wall they located a "great crack" just to the left of the arete that then took them "logically and past not extreme difficulties, but constantly in the region of grade V and VII" to the summit. Gietl told planetmountain.com "we were surprised by how smooth everything went, we managed to free climb everything, and also to protect ourselves well with trad gear. Our pegs always remained in the bottom of our rucksack backpack." Hence the name, Zero.

"It's nice to open a difficult route in the Dolomites, to have a hard time and then to be rewarded with a redpoint, but I must say it's just as satisfying to establish something that's a bit more relaxed. I reckon this new route might become very popular: although the rock still needs a bit of cleaning, it's good quality and provides good pro. It's important to take two sets of cams, you'll need at least two of each color up to red. We left some threads in-situ, to indicate the direction we took."

Zero is Gietl’s third route on Torre del Lago. In 2009 with Patrick Seiwald he made the first ascent of Kein Platz für Zärtlichkeiten on the peak's south face, while last year circa 500m to the left of Zero he made the first ascent of Lifestyle, once again with Oberbacher.

Simon Gietl thanks: Salewa, Neolit, Grivel, Komperdell, Keaxl-Board, Hotel Schwarzenstein, Lyo-Foot,  Südtirol, Lowa, Gloryfy

Links: www.simongietl.it, FB Simon Gietl

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Simon Gietl (@gietlsimon)