New Bold Austrian Mixed Route: Optimist

Michael Wohlleben and Joachim Feger have climbed the Optimist, a new 1,300-metre M6 up the West Face of Schneefernerkopf in the Wetterstein range in Austria.

Optimist- First ascent in the Wetterstein mountains
By Michael Wohlleben

I had this line for a long time in my eyes. We started climbing after a long bushwalking approach on thursday afternoon. We expected to be faster, but brittle rock and unprotectable terrain slowed us down. Until nearly midnight, we climbed with headlamps until we found a good bivy place – of course only sitting but save. The next morning we set off again. The terrain wasn’t super difficult but quite complex to climb with bad protection.

Michael Wohlleben’s Website

At midday we reached the shoulder and it got less steep. From the top of the shoulder we followed the summer route Zwischen den Toren. And after four pitches we reached the sunny top of the face. Another few meters to go and we touched the Schneefernerkopf 2,875 m. I think we both are really happy. To realize a route like this in winter, without bolts and in one push was a small dream.

[shareprints gallery_id=”11486″ gallery_type=”thumb_slider” gallery_position=”pos_center” gallery_width=”width_100″ image_size=”large” image_padding=”0″ theme=”dark” image_hover=”false” lightbox_type=”slide” titles=”true” captions=”true” descriptions=”true” comments=”true” sharing=”true”]Photos courtesy of Michael Wohlleben