Michi Wohlleben frees Hystrix

Two years have passed since Matteo Giglio's first ascent of Hystrix, his Sicilian rock climb which takes a line up the beautiful 200m high North Face of Pizzo Campana, famous for its steepness and compact limestone. A great little gem that confirmed once again that the routes and rock faces (in Sicily, too) are "infinite". The first ascent had been spread out over 6 days from 2008 to 2010 and included partners such as Marco Farina, Livia Guarino and Anna Torretta and what was still outstanding was the redpoint of all pitches and the final definition of the hardest, fifth pitch.

The circle has now been closed, thanks to Michi Wohlleben, the young German rock climber (and Salewa team member) who took up Giglio's offer and managed to linked all 7 pitches on his second day. Wohlleben confirmed the undisputed beauty of the route, put forward 8a+ max (which substitues the original 8b question mark suggestion) and underlined the difficulty of the other pitches which all involved, during the first ascent, 7a obligatory climbing .

"I'm really happy with this result above all because people enjoy the route because of its line, the type of climbing and also its overall commitment." is what Giglio posted on his blog "the ground-up first ascent required numerous attempts, spread out over 2 years, to ascend this difficult and completely smooth face. It really stretched my ability and Michi's first free ascent is certainly a welcome present... and also highly satisfying for me personally :-)".


TOPO: Hystrix, Sicily