Pirmin Bertle

The name of the route is another dedication to the oeuvre of Jim Morrison – the climbing is a present for anyone who joins this game of weird scenes (or moves) inside the gold mine (referring to one of the most impressive landscape, flora and fauna settings among climbing spots in the Alps).

After one decade of absence from Bavaria I am proudly presenting some first sends from the place I really learned climbing at: Kochel. Before leaving to Switzerland in 2006 the routes we climbed here where up to 20m long, mainly of resistance or bouldery style. Meanwhile Kochel has grown big.

"In this light you look like Poseidon" is Bolivias's first 9a, the second one on the Altiplano on almost 4000m, the fourth one in Latin America.

At the foot of the Altiplano in northern Argentina lies the wide and sandstone covered valley of Brealito at 2500m of altitude. The place is as calm and beautiful as it can be and there are some thousands of boulders to open (and to brush).

People call it the Mal de la Puna, the illness of the Altiplano, that is due to the lack of oxygen on this as vast as beautiful as lifeless plateau on 4000m, that spreads over thousands of kilometres in between Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru.

Ever heard of bouldering in Sardegna? No? Neither did Pirmin Bertle! Why? No idea. Perhaps because many boulderers aren't that rapidly over moon because of the beauty of rock and setting as me and look more on the climbing specific features? Perhaps.

Pirmin Bertle: "Wow. What else to say? The perfect ending of a perfect climbing year. Life is beautiful! There's only four ways to get it unravelled - Linking the two Chromosome-9a in a last lucky effort, to what it was meant to be: Meiose, La Tribune, Charmey. My first 9b."

Pirmin Bertle wanted to leave El Chalten to visit Puerto Natales for only some days, but then he found this line. Never had he seen rock like this before, never had made moves like this. Never in a spot like this.

A dream Pirmin Bertle didn't even owe to dream came true. 30 to 40 days throughout one winter without a single day regressing. Five days to do only the single moves of this 20+ moves problem in perfect sandstone.

Can there be something more beautiful than bouldering in this magnificant scenery, in the first week of springtime, in windy, dry, perfect conditions? Yes, there can. Having all this AND an excellent form.