I was going through old files the other day and thought it would be useful to post up pictures of my ascent with Ben Heason of Attraferso il Pesce or 'The Fish' on the south face of the Marmolada in August 2009. I wrote an article about our ascent at the time and set this out below, in case it is of any use to anybody planning their own ascent. This was all before blogs or instagram!
The Fish – South Face of the Marmolada, Dolomites, August 2009
By Ted Kingsnorth
Having been on a trip to the Dolomites in August 2000 with
some friends from Manchester University, when I had ticked a number of classic
routes, I had always been keen to head back for more. I had been inspired by
the huge expanses of vertical walls, spectacular situations and the high
standard of free climbing that was possible with, on the whole, good protection,
in the form of pegs or trad gear. In particular, when on the Comici Route on
the north face of the Cima Grande, a very famous route of about E2 or E3 in
standard, I had looked across at the vast overhanging wall on the same face taken
by the Brandler Hasse, a sustained E5, and wondered if I would ever be good
enough to climb it. A member of our party had done the Brandler that trip and
so I resolved to return when I had gained the necessary climbing skills and
experience to do battle once more.
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| Signpost to the Marmolada Fast forward nine years and I have teamed up with Ben Heason to attempt the Brandler. Much planning has gone into this trip with countless emails exchanged to arrange the necessary gear and logistics. As we took off from East Midlands Airport, I could barely believe that we were actually about to set off on the trip after so much looking forward to it. Touching down in Venice at 9pm, we hastily jumped in the hire car and drove north, fuelled by large slices of pizza. Once in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the main town in the valley, we headed straight for the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the massif containing the Cima Grande, one of the six great north faces of the Alps. Bivvying out at the car park, on the first day we set off up the Fabjan, a nice 11 pitch HVS warm up climb on the south face of the Punta Frida. Suitably adjusted to the style of climbing, the odd loose hold and with the weather set fair we set our sights on the Brandler for the following morning. At 4:30am, our alarms went off and wolfing down some pricey apfel strudel bought at the Auronzo Hut, we set off for the base of the route in the dark. It turned out to be an outstanding outing, despite us having to follow two other parties. The opening seven pitches whet your appetite for the main meat of the 7a/7a+ overhanging corners for which the route is famous. Ben pulled out a brilliant lead of what I thought was the crux of the climb, a wet overhanging chimney crack, the second 7a pitch. It was my lead for the overhanging 7a+ stamina crack and I sprinted up this, clipping everything in sight. Then, after a tricky 6c+ pitch, the upper pitches eased off and we were soon on the ringband contemplating the descent.
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| Ted approaching the Malga Ombretta refuge below the south face of the Marmolada en route to the Falier Refuge |
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| Ted studying the Fish route with monocular the afternoon of the day before our ascent of the Fish |
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| The Falier Refuge, the hut we stayed in before ascending the Fish |
We were tempted to join in the fun but we had a route to
climb so set off up the path to the base of the face, to stash our gear for the
following morning. This is a trick we found very useful on the Brandler, as
much for mental preparation as anything else. If you have seen where the first
pitch starts and put your harness and gear next to the first belay, it puts
your mind at rest and allows you to focus on the job in hand, without worrying
about not finding where the route starts in the early morning, when any delay
could be critical. We had a detailed topo from UP magazine (see below) which
suggested scrambling in on a ledge system to the belay at the end of the normal
pitch 2. We elected to do this as the first five pitches were meant to be very
loose and not recommended. This left only three loose pitches before the start
of the slab proper.
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| Dawn at the first belay of the Fish |
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| Looking out from the start of the Fish |
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| Ben at the second belay of the Fish |
Ted leading the 5th pitch (French 5c or E2 5b)
· A meal in the hut allowed us to meet the other teams of climbers setting off for routes the next day. There were three teams heading off to do Tempi Moderni, a 28 pitch E4 to the left of our route but we were the only party from the hut intent on the Fish. After six hours snoozing in the hut dorms, the alarm went off at 4:30am and it was action stations. After gulping down our coffee and porridge, without any gear to carry up to the base, we were quickly racking up by our stash of gear from the previous day after a 45 minute walk uphill. Ben set off up the first pitch in the half light, a French 6a flake/crack. The UP magazine description recommended linking pitches together to save time so we became used to doing mammoth 50m+ pitches. With Ben having runout 55m of rope, I started seconding up fairly loose terrain and was soon joining him at the belay. I then set off a 60m French 5a pitch. I knew it would be loose and so had prepared myself for the worst. Happily the reality was not as bad as I had feared and bar the odd bit of scree perched precariously on protruding ledges and some flaky holds, the whole pitch was not much harder than E1 5a. After Ben’s French 5b pitch that followed it became fully light to reveal a clear, sunny day; we were now warmed up and psyched for the much harder slab pitches to come. I led off up a 60m French 5c dihedral that was about E2 5b but had to be pretty sparing on the gear seeing how long the pitch was. Unfortunately, I belayed 4m below the true belay, a stuck hex, on a good peg but that did not stop us keeping on the right line as Ben headed up the first true pitch on the famous slab, a long, wandering and technical 6b+ pitch with many threads.
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| Ben seconding the 5th pitch (French 5c or E2 5b) |
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| Ted leading the 7th pitch (French 6a+ or E2 5c) of the Fish |
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| Ted seconding the 8th pitch (French 7a+ or E4/5 6b) |
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| Ted seconding the 8th pitch (French 7a+ or E4/5 6b) |
By the next 6a+ pitch we were becoming used to the style of climbing which could not have been more different from the Brandler. There were many in situ kevlar threads to clip with additional nut and cam placements. The pockets were pretty positive with the emphasis being on good technique to enable the ground to be covered as quickly and efficiently as possible. By this time, we had been joined by a German girl and an Argentinian chap, both guides or aspirant guides who had walked up from the valley floor that morning. Unfortunately, I overshot the belay of my pitch by about 8m due to a confusing topo description but it didn’t matter as, aided by the knowledge of the Argentinian, who had been on the route eight years previously, Ben was able to downclimb and traverse to the right before attacking the first tricky pitch, a slabby 7a+. With the benefit of hindsight it seems like I had followed the pegs on the line used by people intent on aiding the 7a+ bit, which is different, and more direct, to the free line.
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| Ted leading the 10th pitch (French 7b or E5/6 6b) |
Suddenly the mist came down eerily around us and it became pretty cold even with all of our layers on. We had both taken a thermal and a soft shell plus one other outer layer and it was all I could do to keep the blood pumping by kicking my legs and punching the air while belaying. While following the 7a+ (equating to E4/5 6b), I knew we were in for some more testing climbing as it was very thin and balancy, although fortunately well protected by in situ pegs and optional cams. The next pitch was a nice 30m 6b+ (or about E3 6a), and which we could have linked into the previous 7a+ had I not gone astray on the previous pitch. Once at the belay, I looked up at the blank, slabby 7b groove above me, a photo of which graces the front cover of the Marmolada guide, and knew that this was where the real business began. It was my lead so without delay, I set off on what I knew would be a demanding lead. It began easily enough on large well spaced pockets with some respectable runouts but soon the pockets blanked out and the rock became smooth, punctuated by some very thin seams. I clipped a chunky peg bashed downwards into a large pocket and then slightly higher an in situ tri-cam, with an unfortunately frayed sling attached and then contemplated the next moves. Apparently, you used to be able to aid this section but a small peg in one of the seams snapped off relatively recently, making the precarious move obligatory. I crammed my fingers into the crucial vertical slot and smeared my feet on the rough slab, running it out a few feet above the tri-cam. Next thing I knew, my fingers were sinking into a bomber pocket above and I knew I had done it. I linked the next 6c+ pitch into the 7b to make a massive 60m pitch of E5/E6 6b, at that time the hardest on-sight trad lead I had ever achieved and in one of the most stunning positions imaginable! The 6c+ was quite difficult in its own right involving a couple of mono pockets. Thankfully, as I had to keep reminding myself, it was only a slab! This led into the legendary fish niche, a niche high on the face that resembles the profile of a whale and gives the route its name.
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| Ted leading the 10th pitch (French 7b or E5/6 6b) |
The sun had now dispersed the mist and I was burning up in all my layers, my feet in agony due to the heat and having to stand on my toes for so long, despite my comfortable baggy shoes. I had a muesli bar and a gel to boost my energy levels and stripped off a few layers. A helicopter containing what looked like tourists suddenly came buzzing by to within 15m of the niche and I gave it a thumbs up to signal that we were fine. It was now approaching 3pm so we had no time to lose. The 7a pitch leaving the fish was like space walking, a long, weaving 35m E4/E5 on sinker pockets with athletic pulls between flakes and many threads. Ben now had the crux of the route, a short 7b+ pitch with a difficult series of pockets leading into some hard slab moves. He destroyed the pocket moves and then stood readying himself before the key slab section. I soon knew that he had done it judging from the triumphant roar that echoed down to me at the belay! (It turned out that the notorious runout that we had been told about on this pitch was far less scary than expected, making this into perhaps an easy E6 pitch). Seconding with a 2kg bum bag was no picnic but with Ben’s beta, I followed without incident and realised that we had only one more 7th grade pitch followed by a short 6c before the final 6c+ crack.
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| Ted seconding the 12th pitch (French 7b+ or E6 6b) |
The next ‘pendulum’ pitch was given 7a or 7a+ on different topos but they all said that you had to climb up to a peg and then reverse back down again before traversing left to the base of a crack. Apparently the famous alpinist Marco Lukic had failed on his on-sight of the route on this section after freeing all the preceding hard pitches! With this in mind, I headed leftwards at what I guessed to be the right level. I plugged in a TCU in a vertical crack and then headed even further leftwards, leaving the peg above me to my right. Any fall now would result in a substantial (but dead safe) swing to the right. I pawed desperately at the blank slab above me, teetering with my feet in small pockets. With things having gone so well up to this point, I was determined not to lose the on-sight of the Fish. After ten minutes of pondering and false starts, I resolved to attack the slab, seeing that traversing even further below looked equally as hard, if not more difficult than the moves I was facing. Uncertain that I had chosen the easiest traverse line, I committed to the moves with some trepidation. With my feet tiring and a sense of urgency spurring me on as it was now 6pm, I cranked up on a shallow index finger mono and smeared my feet up the grey limestone. Thankfully, my feet stuck and I eased myself leftwards onto some sloping shelves and then eventually some decent pockets. All that remained was a romp up the strenuous layback cracks above to the belay.
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| Ted seconding the 12th pitch (French 7b+ or E6 6b) |
Ben followed shortly afterwards and we now realised that an on-sight ascent was within our grasp. Ben fired off the short 6c undercut traverse pitch, unfortunately marred by some dodgy rock and then I was below the base of the final 6c+, our fourteenth pitch of hard climbing. Exhausted, I knew that I had to summon up my reserves for one last push. It is amazing what you can achieve when your back is to the wall and I battled up this steep E3/E4 pitch as quickly as possible, clipping the many in situ pegs. Topping out onto the large ledge at the end of the major difficulties was an amazing feeling knowing that we had freed one of the most famous rock routes in the Alps. When Ben joined me it was 7:30pm and only one hour of daylight remained. The Argentinian and German party had sensibly retreated one pitch after the Fish niche due to lack of time.
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| Ted leading the 13th pitch (French 7a/+ or E5 6b) |
Most parties intent on only spending one day on the route abseil
down from this ledge and avoid carrying bivvy gear as it marks the end of the
major difficulties. Twelve pitches of sometimes loose and often wet walls and
chimneys do lead to the summit but a bivouac on the ledge or near the summit is
virtually guaranteed as the last cable car down to the valley leaves at 4:30pm!
The abseils are all fairly straight down but some use peg belays which are often
on neighbouring routes so the difficulty of following this option should not be
underestimated. We managed eight abseils most of the way down the face before
darkness fell and we had to get our headtorches out. The last two abseils took
up by far the most time as it was difficult finding the right belays in the
dark but by 9pm we were at the foot of the face and running back down to the
hut. Headtorches had been shone at us from the hut after darkness fell but we
had not been in any difficulties so had not signalled back. The hut guardian
Dante always looks out for climbers in trouble and there were some flashing
headtorches near the top of Tempi Moderni from a party about to bivvy out.
Routes on the south face of the Marmolada are long and this is a frequent
occurrence, there not being enough hours in the day for all but the fastest of
parties to top out and descend in one push.
Collecting our stashed gear at the hut, we thanked the people there for
watching out for us and headed down to the valley. By 11:30pm we were safely ensconced
in a bar in Alleghe wolfing down pizzas and supping on large beers to celebrate
what for me at least had been one of my best days of alpine climbing ever.
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| South Side of the Marmolada Group from the Passo Giau |
Recommended Topos/ Guides
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‘Dolomites: West and East’, Ron James, Alpine
Club 2005
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‘The Marmolada’, Maurizio Giordani, Versante
Sud, 2008
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Planet Mountain topo: http://www.planetmountain.com/english/rock/dolomites/itineraries/scheda.php?id_tipologia=38&lang=eng&comefrom=search&id_itinerario=374&gruppo=&cima=&nome=
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Up Magazine2004/05 ‘Mythical Routes’ section
Recommended Rack
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One set of wires (sizes #3-9)
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Four small/medium aliens or TCU’s
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Camelot yellow and blue (blue not essential), or
equivalent sizes
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16-18 quickdraws
Other routes to do on the South Face
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Don Quixote VI
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Vinatzer/Messner combination VI+
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Tempi Moderni 7a
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Specchio di Sara 7c
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End of Mystery 8a
· Catthedrale 8a+
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