Mountain Projects
Heritage of our Fathers
It’s quiet. Midweek at the end of June. Perfect for a visit to the Tre Cime. It’s the kind of day you see only choughs and beams of bright sunlight that reveal the Dolomites for what they really are. From the north face of the Cima Grande, a distant sound of clinking can be heard. Then the sound of a hammer. Just a few precise, effective strikes.
READ MORESimon Gietl
Oblivion
Simon Gietl and Andrea Oberbacher establish impressive new route on previously unclimbed Dolomite face. May 2017: Simon Gietl and Andrea Oberbacher are on a mission. They’ve come to the Piz d’Ander (La Dorada ) in the beautiful Edelweiß Valley above Kolfuschg/Colfosco, Alta Badia in the Dolomites. Simon first came to the...
READ MORESimon Gietl
Stigmata
Val Badia: you’ll never forget the first time you see it. It’s one of those landscapes that when you talk about it to someone who’s never been there they’ll think you’re making it up. If you’ve never been, you’ll be amazed by the meadows that are so green, the farmhouses that are so well looked after, and the row of spruce trees that seem to hide...
READ MORESimon Gietl
Shiva's Ice
Climbing up snow and ice has its own sound, its own rhythm. You swing your tool, feeling the pick bite into the ice, swing again, and breathe. Kick in your first crampon, points scrape against rock, kick in your second crampon, breathe. And repeat. Climbing up snow and ice has a mantra all of its own. You climb a mountain, while your mind....
READ MORESimon Gietl
North3 Story
Sometimes it happens that exceptional things start in a simple, almost trivial way. With a question that you could listen to at the playground, for example.
READ MORESimon Gietl
Orca
SIMON AND MANUEL GIETL’S TRAD PROJECT ON DURRERSPITZE: THE STORY OF A BROTHERLY RELATIONSHIP, WHICH HAS GROWN ON THE ROCKS.
READ MORESimon Gietl
Winter Traverse - Simon Gietl
Whenever a new idea or project gets into my head, I feel this overwhelming rush of enthusiasm, a mix of elation and motivation – I’m on a mission. For a few years, I had been planning a solo winter link-up of the Tre Cime.
READ MORESimon Gietl
Coming to the Dolomites - Eline Le Menestrel
I feel at home when I can just be myself: when I’m climbing, when I’m playing music, with family and friends, when I’m in nature, when I’m in the mountains.
READ MOREEline Le Menestrel
Closing a chapter
Simon Gietl climbed the 21 pitches of “Can you hear me?” with his partner Andrea Oberbacher on the west face of Cima Scotoni on 15 August 2020. In climbing it, he was keeping a promise to a friend. The route brought out many different emotions, both happy and sad.
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