20-Year-Old Climbs 5.13d/14a Trad in Austria

Prinzip Hoffnung 5.13d/14a features marginal gear, thin cracks, and a very crimpy crux with big air potential

Aaron Pardy March 20, 2024

On March 10, 20-year-old Italian climber Iris Bielli sent Prinzip Hoffnung 5.13d/14a (8b/+) in Bürser Platte, Austria. Prinzip Hoffnung—or Principle of Hope in English—is a 40m-long slab line that begins with a very thin crack. After the crack peters out around the 25-metre point, climbers are forced to move up and right through a desperate and runout crimpy crux. After the crux, another thin crack takes climbers to the top. The climb is protected by small cams and wires.

Prinzip Hoffnung was first ascended on trad gear by Beat Kammerlander in 2009. He had originally climbed the route on bolts nearly 10 years earlier. After removing the bolts and climbing the route entirely on gear, he believed the grade to be 5.13d/14a. Subsequent ascents have confirmed the grade.

The climb has seen several repeats including by Alex Luger in 2009, Jacopo Larcher and Babsi Zangerl in 2014, Nadine Wallner and Madeleine Cope in 2019, Lena Müller in 2020, Luisa Deubzer in 2022, and Anna Hazelnutt in 2023.

Bielli has been making a name for herself climbing hard slabs, trad routes, and multi-pitches around Europe. In the Dolomites, she onsighted the 405-metre Invisibilis 5.13a in August and made the first ascent of Madre Roccia 5.13d in September. In December and January this year, she repeated two hard Stefano Carnati slab routes in Corni di Canzo, Italy: Lo Spirito del Bosco 5.14a and Endangered 5.14b.