Zsigmondycouloir up Elferkofel in Sexten Dolomites by Hannes Egarter, Hannes Pfeifhofer

Last autumn I had to check the vie ferrate in our area. Among the various ones that needed checking was the Alpinisteig, also known as the Via ferrata Strada degli Alpini, which I knew always has some water seeping off it at a certain point. I examined this more closely and noticed that some icicles had formed. Even back then I suspected that in winter a continuous line of ice forms.

Conditions were good in January and without knowing whether ice had formed I skinned up to the base. You have to ascend 800 vertical meters right up to the start because you can’t see the couloir beforehand. When I got there I saw that sufficient ice had formed to give it a go, so Hannes Egarter, also a mountain guide from Sexten, and I set off early the next morning. At noon we reached the top of Mitria, the fore-summit of Zsigmondykopf, after climbing past 600 meters of snow and ice.

The climbing in the couloir went far better than expected. Only one slightly more demanding pitch, with not much ice, took some time. We placed a bolt at each belay and during the abseil we made the crux pitch slightly less "spicy" by adding some pegs.

TOPO: Zsigmondycouloir up Elferkofel Sexten Dolomites