Louis Gundolf frees old David Lama project on Laserz in Lienz Dolomites

The route Project Lama is located on the south Face of Laserz and was probably one of the last projects David Lama left us. He established the route between 2013-14 with a various climbing partners and also a lot on his own, and he managed to free all the pitches except for the crux. He had rated it 8c+?, and I reckon this is a very realistic estimate of its difficulty.

What is special about this route is that it is similar in style to Safety Discussion. Very poorly protected through continuously overhanging terrain. Approximately 250m high and 8 pitches long, the route sports just 4 bolts (2 in the 8c+, 2x in the 8b+). The route is protected above all with nuts, cams and normal pegs. Some of David's are still in-situ.

The route is located 100m to the left of Safety Discussion, which came in handy as I was used to the approach and the face. I first tried the route last spring and every free minute I had, when there was no team training or competitions, I drove my old Golf to the mountain, camped in it and tried the route. Last autumn I noticed for the first time that I am mentally fit enough and could climb carefree and take the same risks on alpine multi-pitches as at the crag. But I also realised that I wasn't fit enough physically. I used the winter to train hard for competitions, of course, but I always had the Lama project in back of my mind.

The route is located at about 2,400m above sea level. The difficulty of this route is to climb all lengths free first go. That was definitely a key point for me because I just never quite managed to recover enough while on the wall. The falls are very frightening because the pro is sometimes very runout. The furthest falls I took were about 30m. That's why I only tried the climb with really good friends and belayers, whom I knew I could trust completely. At this point I would like to thank all KIOTs in East Tyrol for all their support and the warm welcome into their small community.

My year has been more stressful so far than planned. In addition to my full-time studies, I go the Innsbruck climbing center 5 times a week to go training, sometimes twice a day, to train with the national team for the World and European Cups. As a result I traveled a lot this summer and was able to gain a lot of experience in the World Cup circuit. I admit I'm not completely satisfied with my performance because I've noticed that in competitions I climb very differently than on rock. It may sound strange, but I'm much more afraid of falling in a competition than I am on long alpine routes. I'm just not that good a competitor and I often can't even come close to showing what I can do in training. Nevertheless, I haven't yet given up my dream of being up against the very best in the world. Like everything, it is a process and persistance is key.

As I said, every free minute I had this year I drove to East Tyrol to try the Lama project, and on the other days off I established a new sport climbing area at my home in the Pitztal. At the moment my whole life revolves around climbing and my studies. Sometimes the latter falls by the wayside, but like everything else I do, I give it 100%to get everything done. That's probably the reason why many people reckon I seem a bit overstretched.

I already have new projects in mind, both sport and alpine climbing, but before I can concentrate on these, I have to give it my all while training for the next competitions.

by Louis Gundolf

Gundolf thanks: Salewa

 

 

 

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