Baston la Baffe
for Matteo Della Bordella and Fabio Palma
Matteo Della Bordella described as an Italian multipitche machine and Fabio Palma, both well known for their routes in Wendenstocke, repeated the long and wild Baston la Baffe, on the north face of the Scheideggwetterhorn, a 1100 meter high wall located close to Eiger.
The Scheideggwetterhorn Wall
The wall is famous of sustained and difficult routes such as Niedermann (VI+ A3) opened by Max Niedermann in 1954 or Trikolora, a mysterious route dated 1989 by Coubal brothers (54 picthes). Bast La Baffe, consisting of 34 pitches, is considered the hardest line on the wall. According to what was stated by Fabio and Matteo, "the route has many expo pitches and combine sectors of mazing rocks, like Mur de Ceuse, with some picthes where the rock is so poor that you begin to feel really bad while climbing it..."
Matteo Della Bordella climbing a 7b+ pitch
The duo failed the RP ascent due to the incredibly adverse weather conditions and cold, suffering temperatures close to zero on the second day. Finally, it took them the total of 72 hours and two bivaoucs to repeat the route. The team comments on their achievement as follows: "We have to send our best compliments to Zambetti's brothers, who were so tenacious and determined to open this wild and very challenging route. The RP ascent would have been possible if the temperature had been at least 10°C higher. Generally, we perceive the route as very hard to climb, since even the easy pitches are complex due to the quality of the rock. The wall is amazing but the weather is so discouraging..."
Matteo Della Bordella after sending 34 pitches
Fabio adds: "For me it was simply too cold to even consider coming back there to open a new route!! If you've been thinking about trying some RP on the Scheideggwetterhorn I recommend the isotherma not below 4500°C" :-)
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