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? ? Mixed Modern or Artificial
CANADA,?MARCH?2004
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I hold myself responsible for starting the no-leash trend for mixed routes. I also hold my self responsible for having introduced the use of spurs to make progressions on overhangs easier. Completely new progressions that have made climbing on overhangs a cinch. In any case, even if ice picks and crampons remain artificial means, they serve as a connection between hands and feet and natural elements like ice and rock.
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After a three-year break from this incredible sport, which I've always thought to be rather similar to traditional free climbing, I realized during my brief visit to the popular mixed cliff of Ueshinen in Switzerland that something must have changed ...there had been too many repetitions and all of them of "Vertical Limits M12", considered one of the most difficult in the world.
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I have to admit that standards have radically improved, but also that the technique of using tools has considerably changed: one movement and then back again in resting position, hanging head down, with spurs attached to ice axes; ice pick attached on the other in perfect extension and almost without hands!
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I told myself what a great idea! I'll give it a go!
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Anyway, I not only repeated Vertical Limits but also its extension on my second try!
At first... satisfaction... but then the feeling that something wasn't quite right. How was it that I was able to repeat what was probably the most difficult route in the world so quickly, without pushing too hard and getting to the belay without being exhausted?
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I recalled when I arrived at a belay tree at the top of Mission Impossible where I didn't have enough breath to shout out for joy or the strength to pass the rope through the karabiner. I had no energy whatsoever. And I'll never forget the stress of the climb up without a leash of X-Files, where in the last part of ice I was so tired I could barely hold the handles of the ice pick (which at that time were still straight) because jumping with the last protection so far off meant arriving directly at the base.
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There were two possible reasons for it being so easy: either I was in superb physical condition or the simplicity of it all is normal... just part of evolution.
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So, where are all the really hard routes? What are the limits of mixed... do they even exist?
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I had just come back from Canada as tired as ever. Ten days of continuous climbs without any rest.
My goal was to repeat The Game probably the world's first M13, opened by Ben Fith.
There were rumours that the route had a really long movement and knowing that Ben is probably the tallest ice climber I've ever seen, I'd put the project aside for a while and concentrated on doing Musashi M12 on-sight.
I imagined that it wouldn't work out... the pressure of feeling obligated to do it took away energy and concentration.
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But on my second try I climbed it perfectly! How was it possible? I didn't make any effort at all. It was like stealing from a blind man... so easy!
There was something strange going on.
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At this point I was curious, so I tried The Game and, as expected, I found a really long passage, then another and an another...
How was it that God had created a route with holes so perfect and suited to Ben's tall frame?
Easy!
Our Canadian friend had created them himself using a drill!
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I tried every which way to pass the first block but there was nothing doing; my lack of height wouldn't allow me.
Then I tried using other ice picks of a different brand other than my Grivel and holding them with one finger on the lower part of the handle. I finally managed to reach the unreachable hole... that had obviously been drilled!
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The day after I got back to work. I ran down to the local mechanic's in the village and managed to lengthen my ice pick by a few centimetres and so, always holding the handle with one finger to get a few extra centimetres, I managed to repeat the route.
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Yes, the route is difficult! Very physical. For someone of my stature it could even be an M14 but if these are the limits of mixed... where anyone can hand make their own route... then well, no thank you! Go ahead but this isn't the mixed that I know and love so well.
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On my last day I wanted to repeat Musashi in the traditional manner: the one I knew before this last winter: with crampons and ice axes on rock.
Now I can confirm that this does change things... boy does it change things! This is a real M12!
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At the end of the day, to finish off the trip, I climbed Rocky Mountain Horror Show M11+ on-sight. It is one of my biggest achievements of last winter.
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I hope next winter I'll still be enthusiastic enough to play this great game; strike off my last climbs and do them all over again in a more ethical way: maybe by getting rid of spurs and give new credibility to mixed modern.
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Bubu??????????
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????Game over (Innsbruck)
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????Bats with ice axes and crampons
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????Mister Big Ben (Landro, Italy)
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????Grotta Caterina (Trieste, Italy)
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????Laghel (Arco, Italy)
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????Arco 2004 (Italy)
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????Ueshinen (Switzerland)
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????Musica e magia
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????La via è bella
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????Fly in the wind
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????Mission impossible
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? ? Photos by Andrea Gallo