Photos ©Giulio Malfer
http://www.daoneicemaster.it/

Ines Papert, Harry Berger and Samuel Anthamatten win the first stage of the Ice World Cup Difficulty 2006 held last weekend in Valle di Daone, Italy.
Ines Papert from Germany wins the first stage of the Ice Climbing World Cup in Daone ahead of Anna Torretta from Italy and Stephanie Maureau from France. Harry Berger from Austria and Samuel Anthamatten from Switzerland tie for first place in the men's competition, Herbert Klammer from Italy placet third.

WOMEN'S FINAL

Ines Papert

Things were going to be extremely tough today, and the first women's route made this all to clear. 12 finalists, 4 had to bid their farewell
- this was the law of the KO final! And the battle started right from the outset., from those very first meters that lead to the stalactite.
Many had their fare share of difficulties getting passed this first crux, from Buchmann to Torretta, from Papert to Maureau. Then there was the dry tooling section followed by a hint of ice which led to the long traverse left onto the hanging drips and the top, The tension was palpable. And the sub-zero temperature madet hings even harder.

As a result Barbara Zwerger, the first of three Italians, was forced to re-start three times before finally making a nice run third time roundЉ Fiona Murray lost all hope immediatly after the first stalactite, Mariam Filipova ped her ice axe, Kirsten Buchmann climbed high and started the move across onto the hanging drips. The Russians Maria Shabalina and Marina Rashitova lost their ticket to success battling it out on the dry tooling section. But Stиphanie Maureau from France, after an incredible arm twist on the first drip, accelerated and, after a determined fight, managed to bring herself into a safe zone for the next round. Nataliya Kulikova, the small, tenacious Russian, managed a similar feat, only just. While Jenny Lavarda started well but touched out of bounds and was stopped by the judges - a shame, because she'd climbed past all the hard sections. Anna Torretta, as mentioned previously, ran into trouble on the first stalactite but soon saw the light and, after this "false start", climbed quickly, risking moves without making mistakes - her fantastic race ended on the penultimate drip and in safe qualification for the next round. Only Petra Muller from Switzerland climbed better, as did the usual, unshakable and highly capable Ines Papert. This meant that Fiona Murray, Maria Shabalina, Jenny Lavarda and Barbara Zwerger failed to qualify for the next round - Zwerger in particular was unfortunate as she finished joint-equal with Kulikova but was excluded due to her inferior Open results. These are the rules and they state clearly that if athletes place joint equal then the results of the previous round are takien into consideration. We weren't to know it yet, but as the competition evolved this rule was going to become a determining factorЉ but there was no time to sit back and think because the next round had already begun.

For the final eight remaining, the great roof was to become the key to the last challenge.. The name of the game remained the same: 4 eliminations, 4 qualifiers. The traverse across the roof was arduous and after an elegant exit across the drip finished up the dry tooling panel. The Russian athletes comprised of Kulikova, Filipova and Rashitova got lost in the meanders of the roof, some ping axes, the others simply pumping out. The battle through this horizontal roof was a great one and the route fantastic. Buchmann's elegant ballet proved the case, and she was the first to make headway on the dry tooling section before being brought to a stop due to an out-of-bounds foot placement.
Maureau's determination was great too, and she was truly on top form today. Torretta and Papert produced two outstanding performances to reach the top, much to the crowd's delight.

It was spectacular: Anna Torretta was fast and sure of herself like never before, inviting the crowd to cheer her on as she cleared the lip of the roof. Ines Papert was perfect as usual, and incredibly fast - a rocket, one and a half minutes faster than the Italian. Although time wasn't a determining factor here, apart from the maximum time allowed, Papert's speed was indicative of how strong she is at the moment.
But ice is a fickle element, you never know what might happenЉ Petra Muller's surprise exclusion from the final underlined just this, and one of the favorites for victory saw her tiutle chances slip away in an instant (the time it took for her axe to fall to the ground) half-way through the roof.

The time had come for the true final, for the third route, the all-important one which decided who was to win and who wasn't. The final four were Anna Torretta, Stиphanie Maureau, Kirsten Buchmann and Ines Papert. The (heinous and perfect) route setters had prepared an extremely long route up the entire spider, the longest of all. What counted here was how much strength the athletes had left, how much they would manage to pull out from those hidden reserves. Maureau started off first and fought incredibly high to just beneath the final dry tooling panel.
Buchmann set off next, elegant as always but this time round less strong than usualЉ she fell half-way through the overhang, clearly spent.
Climbing on home ground expectations were understandably high for Anna Torretta the crowd wanted a top and she wanted it even more. It was great to see her climb smoothly, wave to the crowd and then fight up the two dry tooling holds to reach the top. Hers was a fantastic competition! . But Ines Papert was already at the starting blocks and she climbed smoothly, consistently, without hesitation, meter after meter with apparent ease. And obviously she reached the top!

For the second year running Papert is the undisputed queen of difficulty in the Valle di Daone Ice Maser. Anna Torretta had to make do with a beautiful second place because, despite having topped out on the second and third route just like Papert, she made less headway on the first route in the final (do you remember - if athletes are joint equal the previous results are taken into consideration). Stиphanie Maureau placed third, while Kirsten Buchmann finished fourth. It was a great competition with plenty of exciting moments such as the final tops, and plenty of smiles, like those of Anna and Ines, the two friends and rivals, once again up against each other in competitions.

MEN'S FINAL

Things should never be taken for granted. Those who, after the Women's Final, expected the Men's Final to be just as difficult, had to think again. The 12 male finalists were offered a more climbable first route, or rather, one which was more technical than powerful. Numerous athletes topped out on a line which highlighted how beautiful dry tooling can be, but resulted in many joint-equals. Hannes Pfeifhoferr started the day off and just missed the top by failing to clip the chain in time, while Bubu Bole reached the final holds without any difficulties whatsoever, climbing quickly and aggressively.
Just when the crowd was beginning to take things for granted Markus Bendler was stopped for his out-of-bounds foot placement. But this was to become the round of endless tops and so, one after the other, all competitors reached the abseil chain. Diego Mabboni, Mario Prinoth (classy style), Herbert Klammer (machine-like power), Albert Leichtfried and Evgeny Kryvosheytsev (speedy gonzalez) all topped out, meaning that 9 of the finalists had qualified for the next round with full marks.

Samuel Anthamatten

But the competition held more surprises in store, such as young Samuel Anthamatten's incredible "invention": a giant leap from one ice patch to the next which enabled him to avoid the dry tooling section altogether. Samuel is extraordinarily crazy, and extraordinarily gifted and electrifying: the crowd loved him and his thunderous style! The other surprise during this first round came from none other than Harry Berger himself, who fell low down on the first route. Luckily for the Austrian he was still well within the toprope section and so he was allowed to start again - as fast as lightening - to make up for lost time, to reach a top and save a competition which seemed all but lost. Fantastic! What's more, according to the rules this fall had no penalty points whatsoever. And so the first stage came to an end after the formality tops of Simon Anthamatten and Simon Wandeler, meaning that Prinoth, Klammer, Mabboni, Leichtfried, Berger, the Anthamatten brothers, Wandeler and Kryvosheytsev all qualified for the next round. Those who didn't were Markus Bendler, Hannes Pfeifhoferr and Bubu Bole who, despite today's top, was penalised for his inferior results in yesterday's Open.

Just like for the women's final, the men's second exclusion round was the large roof, this time though with the extremely overhanging dry tooling start. Albert Leichtfried set off first, climbing strongly to the lip of the roof. Local Diego Mabboni showed immediatly that the top was possible by only just missing it as he was beaten to clipping the chain not by the route itself but by the relentless clock. A few seconds were all that was needed... Mario Prinoth fell as he climbed from the lip onto the dry tooling section: his axe ripped off the first, tiny artificial hold. Nothing and no one could stop Herbert Klammer who chugged to the top like a train. And nothing and no one could stop Harald Berger who, climbing in his usual impeccable manner, topped out. Just like the incredible elve Samuel Anthamatten who, climbing fast as lightening, sent one figure-of-four after the other to reach the chain. There was just one question on everyone's lips: how do you manage to bring these athletes down and, above all, how do you separate them? This question became increasingly more important as the next two athletes topped out: excellent Simon Wandeler, one of the most elegant climbers in Daone today, and Simon Anthamatten, certainly as strong and imaginative as his younger brother Samuel. The result: 5 athletes had topped climbed cleanly through the incredible roof, all 5 were perfectly joint equal. And they could have been joined by Evgeny Kryvosheytsev, had he not committed a foul by pressing the lip of the roof with his hand... Evgeny, Prinoth and Mabboni failed to qualify therefore. And the competition continued.

Harry Berger

The third and final round now awaited Klammer, Berger, the Anthamatten brothers and Wandler. And this last route was a long route, the longest of all, the most overhaning, spectacular and acrobatic past three hanging drips. The idea was simple: by now the competitors are tired, at last they'll have met there match. What's more, the outing is so long they'll have to race to keep within the time limit. We thought we'd see some true difficulty. That's what we thought, because sine the outset these certainties were destined to become serious doubt, above all when Klammer stopped climbing only when he ran out of holds to pull on. His top was matched by that of Berger, increasingly precise, decisive and concentrated.
And then it was his turn, the turn of the small, impossible and unstoppable Samuel Anthamathen who, climbing at breakneck speed, swung, hit, and dynoed to the top. Suddenly it looked like this round was to become a dummy, had Simon Anthamathen and Simon Wandler reached the top, too. But things were to turn out differently, though only just - Wandler ran out of time just beneath chain. So at the end of mammoth competition a super-final was needed to separate these three athletes who, after 6 routes and 6 tops, were all there, tied for first place.

Samuel Anthamatten, Harry Berger, Herbert Klammer

This is how the "massacre" super-final came to life. Or rather, two more routes, the passport to paradise and the end. The first climbed through the roof and was made harder by the route setters by minimising the zones, while the second climbed up the marathon column to the top of the structure, and this too was rendered a few grades harder by reducing the zones. A little spice was added to the show by reducing the rest time between one climb and the next: 6 minutes only, just to make sure that the athletes had no time to recuperate... Well, Herbert "machine" Klammer showed that all of this was to be of no avail by immediately topping out on the powerful first route, and he was emulated by the warrior Samuel Anthamatten and "prince" Harry Berger. Another three tops! Joint-equal once again.

How strong can these climbers be? But there was no time to think because Klammer was already beneath the finishing holds of the last route...
but time ran out. Incredible Samuel Anthamatten accelerated right from the start and, chopping axes and crampons produced a genial and unthinkable climb to top out! Unstoppable! And to cap it all, just to show that more couldn't be achieved, he climbed out onto the top of the structure, took out some slack and leaped off into the void. Just like in the early days of the Rock Master... and the crowd went wild. But Berger was already out of the starting blocks, and he produced a perfect performance, naturally right to the very top. And so, after 8 routes all climbed cleanly, Harald Berger and Samuel Anthamatten were announced the joint winners of the first stage of the UIAA Climbing Ice World Cup 2006. Herbet Klammer, the strong one, placed third.

What more can be said at the end of this marathon run here in Daone? You've probably guessed by now that it was a great competition with great athletes. Let us add hat there were many, many people who came to watch. And let us state that the future of ice climbing competitions have seen the light here in Daone. And that these athletes have proven to be mature enough for pure difficulties (and a spectacle) that was unimaginable up until only yesterday. Only the future knows what lies in store. Naturally here in Daone, on the craziest, most beautiful and incredible ice structure in the world. . Those who have never seen ice climbing competitions before

See you here in Daone in 2007 for another great Ice Master!