Mixed Climbing in Kandersteg, Damokles

Robin Avanthay & Jon Murua
Damokles, Breitwangflue, Kandersteg
ED+ M7+
23.1.2021
Extreme alpinist
Transcript:
This route is generally a mixed route with delicate dry tooling to jump into the ice.
This year however, the waterfall was fully formed all the way to the bottom!
Many teams had climbed it this season given the exceptional conditions.
That was beautiful!
My partner Robin climbed the first easy pitch without any problems.
The second pitch set the scene already.
It was covered on snow and I couldn't find the holds or where to protect.
That was a mental game!
After a while battling with the snow, I reached the ice which was extremely dedicate. It was very thin and detached from the rock.
That was scary!
Unable to protect I had to climb extremely softly not to collapse the waterfall.
I decided to keep climbing and connect the second and third pitch again.
The third pitch felt also pretty hard as the ice had taken the shape of plenty of small mushrooms which were weak and délicate.
I arrived full of adrenaline to the anchor.
Just beside the overhanging ice and the seriously delicate dry tooling section.
Robin started, but he ended up leaving to me the pleasure to lead this gorgeous pitch.
Delicate dry tooling moves on millimetric holds to jump into the plastic ice.
Amazing!
I could reach the bolts from the ice which gives extra security.
The exist is seriously overhanging.
There were a set of mushrooms protected by sharp stalactites. What an ambience!
The crux is rated M7+, but I thought it was much harder.
The rock was broken and many of the holds could no longer be used. This forced me to improvise and use sketchy holds that were really far apart.
I jumped into the ice after 3 bolts to continue this steep and long cigar.
The ice, partly melted from a heatwave created many cavities allowing me to jam arms, legs and even my heaps to have rests.
I also managed to climb with bare hands some sections to relax the forearms.
It took me a whole hour to climb this pitch!
I actually run out of ice screws 15 metres from the top. That was mental!
By the time Robin arrived, it was getting dark and it started snowing.
We thought it was not worth it to push to the summit in the dark. We had climbed the beautiful cigar and mixed climbing crux so we felt satisfied.
It was also nice to enjoy the rappels with light. What ambience! So overhanging!
Look at those stalactites!
Have fun in the mountains, and be safe!
Music credits:
Music: Hey! - Bensound
www.bensound.com​
Support by RFM - NCM: bit.ly/2xGHypM
• Cjbeards - Fire and Th...
Music: Dreams - Bensound
www.bensound.com​
Support by RFM - NCM: bit.ly/2xGHypM

[@JohnnyIDive37]

This was just a great video to watch Jon, your ice climbing videos are awesome.

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

You have the best personality, Jon! It makes your channel so fun to watch.

[@andreiverdeanu1219]

It's amazing how much you've progressed! Keep up the good work!

[@rockclimber]

well done. safty first!!

[@denyvader6477]

I Love this content

[@songolocksdrones8766]

That's some insane footage! I used to rock climb alot around North Conway NH, and Salt Lake City UT. My hat is off to you guys!!!

[@jonmurua]

Thanks a lot!

[@franciscocastellon1556]

Nice job Jon!

[@edbzn]

Thank you for sharing those amazing climbs.

[@SWISSPOWERJET]

DER KLASSIKER DARF NICHT FEHLEN - VERY NICE - I LOVE MIXED CLIMBING

[@Landolini]

Good job guys! Those pitches look spectacular!

[@juanjo834]

Brutal Jon. "Cazar" en ese muro es lo más, es escalar en hielo con mayúsculas y tú vas haciendo unas cuantas. Enhorabuena.

[@jonmurua]

El año que viene te espero para Flying Circus ;)

[@juanjo834]

@@jonmurua será un honor, estaré preparado.

[@BenjaminLothe]

awesome route .. congrats !

[@SWISSPOWERJET]

this trip was awesome - good job

[@gualdus]

Madre mía cómo suena esa cortinilla de hielo🥶.Más allá del juego mental...miedo

[@jonmurua]

Estaba delicado, sí. El segundo largo puso mis nervios al límite

[@johns3106]

Some very nice leads!

[@jonmurua]

Thank you!

[@jeztv9014]

Awesome climbing again well impressive 😊 👍 I notice you've gone back to Nomics 🤔😊

[@jonmurua]

Thank you! I'd had taken the Ergos for this route, but I don't have them anymore :(

[@magm1959]

expectacular y expuesto 💪💪👍👍

[@khrumkashan6954]

Awesome videos. Could you share please your training routine?

[@jonmurua]

Thank you! I might make a video about the training. I'm September I focused on grip strength as follows (twice a week): Hang on that ice axes as long as possible (let's say 3 minutes) Rest half of the time you managed to hang (3/2 = 1 minute and a half) Hang as long as possible, rest half the time... Until the hang time is less than 30 seconds. After a few weeks of max hangs, I started doing series of figure-4 until almost failure with plenty of recovery time between the series. In November/December I did a lot of dry tooling and in January I focused purely in ice climbing.

[@irondaw88]

Great ❤

[@alvarofrhty]

Espectacular video. Y menudo nivelazo. Imagino que el factor psicologico de verte sin buenos seguros tiene que ser complicado, como consigues superarlo?

[@jonmurua]

Gracias! Sin duda, la falta de buenas protecciones genera mucho estrés. Cuando escalo, prefiero concentrarme en la escalada en sí y evitar pensar en qué pasaría si me caigo, pero a veces es inevitable y la adrenalina sube rápido.

[@peterhorvath4185]

Thanks for great video! Did you use half or double ropes, because I saw you have clipped only one rope multiple times, but you also have clipped both multiple times.

[@jonmurua]

We used double ropes. I normally clip only one rope on trad gear or when the route makes zig-zags, but I clip both ropes together when the route goes straight and there are bolts in place

[@benatarratibel1530]

Ona :) bua aze tokia!!

[@Max-sr5yz]

cool tes vidéos Jon ! je viens de t'ajouter sur insta ! bonne saison !

[@gabrielmarias972]

Fantastico video! Menuda lucha:) Que guantes de OR usaste? No se te mojan? No son muy frios? Los de repuesto no se enfrian llevandolos colgados en arnes? Igual es tema para un video, creo el tema de guantes y estrategias para frio en reuniones-escalando es importante. Un saludo y sigue con estas pedazo aventuras

[@jonmurua]

Hola Gabriel! Normalmente para hielo suelo usar los guantes Simond Cascade Light. Son waterproof con bastante dexteridad. Para dry tooling y mixto duro suelo cambiar a los OR alibi ii. Son fríos y se mojan rápido, pero hacen la diferencia en los largos clave. En el arnés se enfrían, sí, pero boca abajo no se mojan. No es un gran problema, aunque los OR alibi ii, ya que son pequeños, a veces los llevo en el bolsillo de la chaqueta.

[@gabrielmarias972]

@@jonmurua gracias! Y los simond los coges de talla que te quepa debajo el OR? O talla normal para solo llevarlo sobre la mano. Gracias de nuevo crack

[@jonmurua]

@@gabrielmarias972 Suelo llevar unos guantes super finos de seda por debajo. Estos absorben el sudor y cuando están húmedos los cambio por otros. Así las manos están siempre semi-secas. Estos guantes de seda también ayudan a meter y sacar las manos del guante. Con las manos húmedas el forro interior se pega y es un engorro. No, no suelo vestir los OR por debajo de los Simond; los cambio simplemente. En mi caso, uso la misma talla para los dos: M. Sé de gente que escala sólo con guantes finos de softshell. Suelen llevar varios pares y se los van cambiando en cuanto se mojan.

[@SWISSPOWERJET]

excellenttt movie cutting at 08:17 and follow

[@stevebarratt888]

Its super noticable and distracting when you cut the video out of order. I'm sure you're aware of it, but its clear from this end too.