If I could be any superhero, I’d be David Lama. The Austrian pro alpine climber is part man, part mountain goat. In a nutshell, he climbs things that other people can’t climb. While most climbers turn their attention to projecting hard routes in the summer, he does the same in winter. Last January, he teamed up with his climbing partner Peter Mühlburger to bag the first ascent of a mind-bending mixed route in Austria’s Valsertal. After four tries, the two finally made it to the top and filmed the whole thing, truly capturing what it takes to climb these massive frozen walls.
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The Valsertal is one of the coldest zones in Austria, lending itself to crazy ice formations high on its chossy walls. Lama has been climbing in the area for years (it’s basically his backyard), and even endured one of the coldest bivys of his life there alongside Hansjörg Auer. The new route, called the Sagzahn Verschneidung goes at M6/A2, and Lama calls it one of the hardest efforts he has put in.
