[VIDEO] Bernd Zangerl on “Il Colonel Sit Start” (8A+)

Bernd Zangerl has been visiting the italian Val Di Orco in the Region of Piemont for many years. He fell in love with this beautiful wild alpine valley and the local people living there.

Bernd Zangerl:

I like the unique granite features and over the years I opened many moderate and hard climbs in the valley.

The lines are so pure and every year I find new projects to work on. It’s a hidden boulder paradise in the alps and I am really surprised that it’s still so quiet there. The unique granite offers lots of hard and technical bouldering. Maybe too technical for the powerful new gym generations! Some of the lines I opened in the past, like El Salvador , Bravirabi, Self Aperto and of course the stunning 14m Highball 29dots is just worldclass climbing.

This year I spent 3 weeks in the area, and brushed a whole new sector below the Sergent. The main focus this year was the SDS to Il Colonel 8A+, a great line put up by Niky Ceria some years ago. This diamond shaped boulder is a dream come true and I wanted to spent some more time on this rock.

The sit down was obvious, but I didnt find many features to hold on to. For one hold you need lots of imagination and faith. I already had a possible sequence in my mind back in 2015, but I was just too weak to do it. It remained a dream until 2019. I finally was able to add two super hard moves to the existing boulder problem. One of the best climbs I’ve done!