Aggenstein north­eastern wall “Morbus Brexit”

This past January, the LOWA ACTIVE team members Fritz Miller, Michaela Schuster and Hannes Neubert set their sights on the distinctive Aggenstein mountain in the Bavarian section of the Tannheim Group of the Allgäu Alps.

But the team had no intention of reaching the most-visited summit in the Tannheim Group during a chal­lenging hike. Rather, they were determined to reach the top by ascending the Aggen­stein’s sheer and frequently brittle north­eastern wall – a wall that places the highest demands on skill, physical condition and experience. Their plan here was to pull off the first ascent and to follow it up with a redpointing climb. Why here? And why winter? “While you’ll find good ice-climbing conditions in the Dolomites, there’s is not much action in Allgäu, my favourite place for Alpine mixed climbing, ” Fritz Miller said in explaining the reasons behind this demanding tour. “The walls are packed with snow. That is unless they are completely sheer.”

The craggy summit structure of the Aggenstein juts into the sky like a tooth. Its classic and powerful shape makes a strong impression on both hikers and climbers. It is also a climbers’ paradise with roughly 25 routes that are rated at every level of difficulty. But only three of these routes lead through the chal­lenging northeast wall. Two reasons for this are: the sheer steepness of the mountain and the sub-optimal composition of the rock itself. Grass-covered areas, typical features of the Aggenstein, also come into play. Add it all together, and you come up with some pretty demanding conditions. If the rope team of Miller, Schuster and Neubert has its way, another route will be added in the end of the tour.

After four days of preparatory work, Fritz Miller and Michaela Schuster hopped onto their touring skis in the Breit­enberg skiing region on 27 January and headed to the starting point. Because the slope became steeper and steeper – it was nearly 40 degrees in the end – the rope team decided to begin in the slope line of the starting point. Following the first pitch, the two climbers reached an exposed traverse that led into the central part of the wall. With their third and fourth pitches, they followed the route “Direct North Wall”, a fairly unpopular route from 1965. After a pitch and one-half, the two climbers abandoned this route in order to reach the central ice track. But this track was inter­rupted in the upper section of the wall by a rock overhang.

“We were able to place a cam in the overhang before things got serious, ” Miller said. “We gave this pitch a M7 grade. That may not seem like a whole lot. But when you are up there and you are loaded down, you have to see how you can take care of yourself.” The terrain flattened out shortly after Miller and Schuster got past the overhang. It was a true godsend for both athletes following the gruelling ascent. The last pitch covered the north­western side in a compact slab of rocks that could hardly be secured and required the athletes’ complete concen­tration once again. “There wasn’t a whole lot of snow here because of the strong winds that frequently blow. This enabled us to easily spot the grass cushions that are so typical for Allgäu – when they are frozen, they are the very best material to climb on, ” Miller said in describing the final pitches. The pair then crossed an easy section of terrain before they reached the weakly developed top of the north ridge, the last section of “Morbus Flat­termann” – a route of the Pfronten-based mountain guide Thomas Osterried and Stefan Blochum from 2000 and the most difficult route through the north­eastern wall up to now – and the new route, “Morbus Brexit”.

“We focused on our route for a total of four days. During this time and afterwards, we thought about all sorts of names for it. Finally, Michaela drew some inspiration from the name of the neigh­bouring route and came up with ‘Morbus Brexit’. The name may not sound so great, and it also does not make any direct reference to our line. ‘Morbus Brexit’ is really a statement: Together we are strong, ” LOWA ACTIVE team athlete Fritz Miller said in describing the process used to come up with the name.

Inspired by his success, Fritz Miller set off once again to the north­eastern wall of the Aggenstein on 31 January with Hannes Neubert. The plan was to go back to the “Morbus Brexit” and redpoint it. The mountain was favourably disposed to the athletes and could be conquered with this method, too.