animiert magazin nummer14 sommer

Dem Reiz der Titlis-Nordwand ist auch Matthias Trottmann verfallen, der hier die schwers- ten Nordwandrouten der Schweiz erschlossen hat. Another climber drawn to the north face of the Titlis was Matthias Trottmann – the man who developed Switzerland’s hardest north-face routes.

of the clif f. We were going to climb the f lat- ter, lef t-hand sec tion of the nor th face. When it came time to drill in the f irst bolt, we some- how sensed this was a historic moment, so we made sure we each had a hand on the drill. It was the f irst bolt ever to be put in the 2 km expanse of the nor th face, and we feel priv i- leged to have been the pioneers behind it. Ha lfway up, though, grass ledges star ted to wear away our motivation, and ava lanches cascading of f rocks to the right forced us to ca ll it a day. We subsequently found other

As we wriggled to the edge of the clif f, a magnif icent v iew opened before us: Engelberg Abbey, tiny sunshades outside the Wasser fa ll restaurant, and the lush expanse of the golf course. Nex t, our gaze slid down over the rock face beneath us that descended 500 metres into the va lley. The upper sec tion jut ted out by 50 metres, lending a surrea l air to the slabs in the midd le of the rock face that we had just sca led. Our route had brought us to the rocky promontor y, v isible f rom miles around, that sits above the impressive overhangs of the

places in Switzerland where we cou ld satisf y our thirst for the rush of a f irst as- cent. But my thoughts kept returning to those massive overhangs and the promon- tor y that stretched out so

nor th face of the Titlis. It is a wonder f u l place, so f lat you cou ld a lmost set up a picnic bench and sit gazing over the yawning emptiness before you. We were celebrating the f irst ascent of a route

There are few places more beautiful than this to escape the summer heat and hubbub in the valley below.

audaciously above them. Then, when climb- ing in Peru in 2003, I decided I wou ld tack le the Titlis again, this time taking a straight line through the overhangs, which wou ld protec t me f rom ava lanches and rock fa lls. When I returned to Switzerland and told Bernd, he was raring to go. Soon, we were back on track, cut ting across a concea led ledge direc tly below the promontor y. The v iew above was one of the most awe-inspiring I’ve have ever seen. Pitch by pitch, we made our way up, on a climb as steep as any on indoor wa lls today. We star ted each day by climbing, spider- like, up the f i xed ropes to where we had lef t of f the day before. That was how, slowly but surely, we created our route, the Land ohne Herren (7c). Later, other climbers were a lso drawn to the nor th face. Mat thias Trot tmann f rom Zurich gave Switzerland its hardest nor th- face routes when he opened the Hat tori Hanzo (8b+) and Piz da l Nas (8b) on the Titlis.

we wou ld christen Land ohne Herren (“Land without masters”). It was 2006 and we had just become the f irst to take on the centra l sec tion of the nor th face of the Titlis and win. This was no overnight success; the stor y goes back to the early 90s, when I f irst became interested in the colossa l nor th face. The Ga ltiberg f reeride descent winds a long the foot of the rock face, so whenever I rode it, I cou ldn’ t miss the compac t slabs and massive overhangs above me. Par t of what made it so fascinating were the bumps stick- ing out f rom the rock like oversized war ts. They are ac tua lly sea urchin fossils – a v isua l reminder that these limestone clif fs began their lives deep in the primordia l oceans. It was easy to persuade my long-time climbing companion Bernd Rathmay r to join me in tack ling the nor th face of the Titlis. In May 1995, weighed down with heavy ruck- sacks, we set of f f rom Fürena lp va lley station and made our way over Hohfad A lp to the foot

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