Michele Caminati tiptoes up Toewalker, small trad gem at Bozen

I first started trying Toewalker with Florian Riegler immediately after having climbed Skinwalker, but the two routes are quite different: due to its angle Toewalker certainly seemed easier, but we were put off by the fact that the first section through a blind and frictionless corner seemed impossible to protect properly.

After a couple of days of trying, both Florian and I managed to work out all the moves and find the pro for the higher section of the route, which follows a delicate finger crack and ends with some flared hand jams. We remained a bit dubious about the dangerous start and neither of us felt like trying the route on lead, since we'd both slipped off the unprotected moves a couple of times.

We were about to resign to placing a bolt; then Florian shifted his attention to his multipitch climb Lifestyle at Nago (which he freed recently!), and I continued to working the route alone. While looking for a way to reduce the risk on the lower part I cleaned the ivy from a thin crack just to the right of the corner and finally unearthed some pro that would just about protect the crux. You start from that crack, place the pro, then bridge widely to reach the corner and continue up this. A fall from the crux would now result in a pendulum that gets you close to the ground, but it's certainly far better than a groundfall!

I continued to work the route on my own, and while doing so I also cleaned a pleasant 6c diagonal crack on the right to complete the small sector. One day I managed to climb the entire route while clipped to my grigri on a static rope and placing all the pro in the process... the time had come to tie in to the live end!

I freed the route at the end of April last year, but I waited to get some pictures before publishing the ascent; thanks at this point to Tristan Hobson for the reat photos! As to the grade, I reckon it could be somewhere in the region of French 7c, but perhaps the English grade of E7 6c gives a better idea of what lies in store.

Practical info:
The route is located just below the more difficult Skinwalker, at the foot of the Mendola pass, just above Kaltern. A description of the sector and access can be found on thecrag.com (where you will can find far more news about the trad climbing in the Bolzano area).

Gear: small cams up to #1 are needed, offsets will be found useful, both at the start and at the exit. Small nuts and ball-nuts are also useful. For the route nearby, Diagoline, take a double set of cams from #0.3 to #2, plus a #3 is enough for the top. A third #0.4 won't go amiss.

I left a static rope in order to reach the Toewalker chain and check moves and pro without having to reach this from above. The extension is still a project!

by Michele Caminati

Michele thanks: E9, La Sportiva, Wild Country