Fallbach within three acts
740m ice in 1:58 h...
Yesterday Benni Purner and me have been visiting Vorarlberg one more time. Right after the Arlberg pass near Braz, a 740 meters long ice line up to WI5 is the attraction for many climbers. The Fallbach is one of the longest and most impressive icefalls in Austria.
Conditions have been perfect - the ice was soft all the way up and all the sections which normally are mixed have been covered with ice. We counted on a fast ascent. At the end we were even faster as we tought. At the harder start pitches the ice was quite easy to climb trough the ascents of the days before and at the top the ice was super soft - climbing with high speed was possible. We devided the line onto 3 pitches and climbed them on running rope. Already at 10:44 we shaked hands at the top, exactly one hour and 58 minutes after Bennis first swing.
After Will Gadd's "Endless ascent", where he climbed at the Ouray Icepark on Toprope within 24 hours about 8000 meters for charity reasons, I have counted for fun: Within 24h we would have climbed 9030 meters with our speed, even on lead and 35 placed screws... Naturally everthing is just a choke - Will was amused to see the pics and my comments. He replied with: "Good fun to move like that.. yeah!"
