Category Archives: news

Photo @ Andrea Chelleris in Martin Krpan (9a) in Mišja peč

13 years old Andrea Chelleris has done his first 9a, Martin Krpan in Mišja peč. Interesting, at the same age, also Adam Ondra succeeded in his first 9a by clipping the chains of Martin Krpan (9a).

Martin Krpan (9a) was first ascended by Slovenian Jure Golob back in 2001. The futuristic line was bolted in the nineties of course by Tadej Slabe. It is about 60 moves long power endurance route without any proper rests. It starts in the first part of Strelovod (8c) and finishes almost through the whole of Konec mira (8c/c+).

Martin Krpan is a fictional character from the short story written by Fran Levstik back in 1858. A smuggler by profession, he makes a living by illegally transporting English salt. With the help of...

Alex Megos in Martin Krpan (9a) in Mišja peč @ photo by Franko Bilić

After not getting in to the finals, lots of World cup competitors showed up in Mišja peč on Saturday. The highlight of the day was Alex Megos's second go ascent of Martin Krpan (9a). The redpoint looked quite easy, like Alex had still some juice left in the tank. He found it soft, but admitted that it suited his style perfectly. After he did also Konec mira (8c/c+), Marjetica (8b+) and Missing drink (8b+). Marjetica was climbed on second go by two Swiss climbers, Dimitri Flick and Nino Grunenfelder.

German Martina Demmel onsighted the easier variation of Pingvin (8a).

In freshly re-opened Baratro young Andrea Chelleris crushed Il sicario sanguinario (8c) and "onsighted" Apache kid lunga (8b). The first part he tried like five years...

Photo @ Baratro

Baratro is re-opened! Thanks to association "Proghetto Verticale Trieste"! Please follow the rules written here!

Climbing area Baratro

Association "Proghetto Verticale Trieste" welcomes all the climbers.

Association was founded to save the access and frequency of the climbing areas around Trieste and the first result is in saving this magnificent climbing area named Baratro. It is wanted to mantain direct communication with all the climbers.

Anyways, you are asked not to share the GPS location of the spot, climbing guidebooks or lists of the routes.
Informations:

• Facebook: page Progetto Verticale Trieste ASD
• e-mail: [email protected]

RULES

• Respect the signs for access and park on a main road in civil manner.
• It is asked to act...

Fabrizio Masoch in Helikopter v pošasti (8c) in the big cave of Osp @ photo by Carla Buscaglia

35 years old Fabrizio Masoch climbs his first 8c by adding Helikopter v pošasti (8c) in the big cave of Osp to his ticklist. Helikopter v pošasti (8c) is a 55 meters long tufa wrestle that starts in Helikopter v omaki (8b) and after the chain turns to the left to finish in Osapska pošast (8c). It is characterized as an endurance route on tufas. The summer heat and lots of humidity in the last days didn't help him, but Trieste based climber resisted and clipped the chains. His hardest routes until now were La peste nera (8b+) and La Supercanna (8b) in Baratro. He is climbing for 10 years and last year he even became a father but has kept climbing with focus and persistence. Respect!...

rebolting routes in Črni kal @ photo by Katja Jemec

We have a new problematic issue to publish on our site: rebolting of existing routes in Istria. We got in contact with Slovenian Projekt OSP and have had an interesting interview with them. Three main Projekt OSP members Štefan Wraber, Jurij Ravnik and Rajko Zajc have given their answers to our questions.

From our point of view, first we have to thank and congratulate Projekt OSP for this outstanding work of rebolting hundreds of routes, replacing hundreds of anchors and thousands of bolts in Črni kal, Osp and Mišja peč. Nobody is saying thanks to Projekt OSP and it is even harder to donate some money to them, but of course it's...

On 2nd and 3rd of September first World Cup in lead climbing will be held in Koper, Slovenia, Istria. On a brand new wall in Koper lead competitors from all over the world will compete in Friday's qualifications at 9AM and semifinals at 8PM in the evening and Saturday's final's at 8PM in the evening. After the finals there will be a party and a concert of Queen tribute band.

The chief routesetter is Adam Pustelnik from Poland with the help from Brad Weaver from USA and Spaniard Sergio Verdasco.

There are 60 women and 63 men competing from 25 different countries. Link to the official site. The competition in Koper is the fifth of the season in World Cup lead climbing and there are still three ahead.

The official opening ceremony of the brand new wall in Koper...

PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH ANYONE WHO LOVES OUR NATURAL CLIMBING WALLS

To boil this letter down to bullet points for people skimming:

- Our natural climbing walls in Italy, Slovenia and Croatia are getting chipped, drilled, and glued to death

- It’s not a few routes, or a few holds, it is substantial manufacturing

- Reports from locals are of entire crags put up with heavy fabrication

- We want it to stop

The following is an open letter to the climbing community on ethics. We care deeply about our climbing areas, its history, and its future.

We regret not bringing these issues to your attention sooner, but have been torn on how to bring them forward until we understood the severity and had definitive proof. Over the past months we have received pleas from...

Luca Bacer in his latest first ascent of L'ammazzasogni (8c) in Baratro @ photo by Andrea Padoan

Latest climbing news come from Baratro and the big cave of Osp. We have already reported about Luca Bacer's first ascent of L'ammazzasogni (8c) in Baratro a week ago. Besides that Jernej Kruder flashed short, powerful and as usual for Baratro totally artificial Corrida (8a+). Jaka Šprah redpointed probably the easiest 8b over there, Masochismo and the amazing power endurance fest La peste nera (8b+). Katarina Rus ticked another artificial route called Cliffhanger (8a+).

Matjaž Zorko returned to the big cave of Osp after succeeding in Water world (9a) ten days ago. He climbed the first and the hardest pitch of Bala Bala (8b+) and two days later he onsighted the classis enduro Bitka s stalaktiti (8b)....

Photo @ Matjaž Zorko in Water world (9a) in the big cave of Osp

Matjaž Zorko climbed Water world (9a) in the big cave of Osp. This is his second 9a after already succeeding in Halupca 1979 (9a) in the same crag in January this year. He needed about twenty tries to clip the anchor of this 55 meters long very overhanging route. The route counts now at least 10 repeats and is tagged as one of the best 9a's in Osp. More information about the route you can find here. 

Martin Bombač completed another monster route Osapska pošast (8c) in the same place.

Here you have a nice video from Klemen Bečan and Domen Škofic crushing everything in the Osp cave to get a bit...

Photo cave of Osp @ Dean Schmautz

Probably because of really dry winter and mining for Second track Divača - Koper railway line with 7 tunnels and 3 viaducts many holds got broken in routes in Mišja peč and in the cave of Osp.

There is a hold or tufa missing or it just got a bit smaller. All the routes were reclimbed, all are now harder but still probably in the same grade. Time will tell. And then people say that climbers are bad for nature. What about brutal actions into our planet like this?

Routes like Bitka s stalaktiti (8b) and Active discharge (8b+) in the big cave of Osp and in Mišja peč: Figa (7b+), Marjetica(8b)/Strelovod (8c), Preobrazba (7c+), Sreča vrtnice (7a+), Samsara (8a),...