Vertical Arena Sexten

In mid-December 2021, Gabriel Tschurtschenthaler from the village of Sexten in South Tyrol achieved the previously impossible. Together with the Kalser mountain guides Vittorio Messini and Matthias Wurzer, he succeeded in climbing the 3,128m high Cerro Torre in the Patagonian Andes. A mountain that can only be climbed by a few mountaineers due to the adverse weather conditions and technical difficulties. The special thing about it: Gabriel is 90% blind. "In good light, my vision is ten percent, so I can make out contours, but in bad light, unfortunately, it goes to zero," Gabriel explains.

After several preparatory tours, the project started in November 2021. The team functioned as a three-man team. The mountain guides Matthias and Vittorio took turns leading, and the lead climber gave Gabriel the necessary instructions. For the ascent of Cerro Torre, the trio chose the "Ferrari" route - "Via dei Ragni" - through the steep west face.

On Friday, 15.07.2002 at 8.30 pm, Vittorio Messini and Gabriel Tschurtschenthaler will talk about their adventure for the first time in front of an audience at the Vertical Arena in Sexten. We can expect an exciting evening with great pictures by Christian "Kruscht" Riepler (Berg im Bild) - a third mountain guide who documented the ascent with high-resolution film and photo cameras.

Afterwards, as always at the Vertical Arena, there will be a panel discussion with audience participation. The speakers will alternate between German and Italian. The event will again be moderated by Lisi Steurer, alpinist and mountain guide.