Italy - South Tyrolean alpinist and LOWA PRO Team athlete Simon Gietl gave himself a very special Christmas present in December 2019. Together with climber Vittorio Messini, he climbed the Pandora route on the steep Pordoi west face over two days.

The steep face of the Pordoi west face in the heart of the South Tyrolean Dolomites is famous among alpinists and climbers far beyond Italy's borders. In the cold winter months, impressive ice formations are created there time and again - in winter 2019, some particularly rare formations were even formed.

Due to time constraints, an immediate exploration had not yet worked out. On 10 December, however, the time had come: Gietl and Messini wanted to use this day to get an overview, test the conditions and identify the best possible route. "The focus of our project was always the impressive ice formation that had formed an estimated 450 metres above the ground," explains the South Tyrolean.

"Our friend and fellow mountain guide Isidor Poppeler contacted us at the beginning of December and raved about an incredible ice track in the upper part of the wall that had formed slightly to the left of the well-known Niagara route."