New Trad Mixed Routes in Canada and Austria

In the Canadian Rockies, a new 40-metre mixed route has been established on a wall that gets afternoon sun by Ian Welsted, Sam Eastman and Matt Zaleski.

“Fun little new route,” said Welsted who spends his days either ice climbing or ice guiding. “Thought about calling it Long Slog Little Dagger but settled on Vacation in the Sun M6. Head up a steep hill of waist deep facets 300 metres north of Mixed Master. Vacation is the leftmost of the two ice strips. Finger sized crack to a bolt, then onto the dagger, up the gully on ice to a tree top out. Dubious fun to suffer ratio, but belaying in the sun didn’t suck.”

And in Austria, Hansjorg Auer has climbed two new mixed routes in Otztal, the first being Mummut Lex M6 WI5+ and the second being Gegenwind, a 90-metre M8 WI5+. “It offers some great climbing protected by gear and some medium-quality pitons and bird beaks,” said Auer. “Tried this line already four years ago. But just back from a knee injury things were not feeling right.”

Fun new little route. Thought about calling it Long Slog Little Dagger but settled on Vacation in the Sun 40m M6. Head up a steep hill of waist deep facets 300 m north of Mixed Master. Finger sized crack to a bolt, then onto the dagger, up the gully on ice to a tree top out. Dubious fun to suffer ratio, but belaying in the sun didn't suck.

A post shared by Ian Welsted (@ianwelsted) on Feb 19, 2019 at 9:06am PST

▲ Ice Climbing ▲ "Mammut Lex" (80m, WI5+/M6). Happy that I found this unique little pearl. A very cool two pitches long climb on thin ice opened together with @lukas.riml.3 located just right of my route "Elfenbein", a route that I opened in March 2015, still unrepeated. #NeverStopExploring #IceClimbing #FutureLight

A post shared by Hansjörg Auer (@hansjoergauer) on Feb 14, 2019 at 10:30am PST