Tsunami

Scott Muir - 01/04/2005

It is not often that such obvious and fantastic lines gets overlooked, especially when most of the best mixed climbers in the world have repeated the nearby Mission Impossible M11. A line that itself has been dubbed the somewhat pretentious title of 'best mixed climb in the world' but it's easy to see why, position, purity of line and location, location, location! Tsunami climbs the obvious line of weakness to the left of Mission, taking the roof at its largest and linking up some scary big flakes that are somewhat detached. Certainly not a route for the fat, since the worrying dust the falls out it and the booming noise and flex when pulled on would certainly mean certain death and human pate if it comes off. This adventurous added extra means that the usual swinging, pulling, cranking and dynamics are out and precision, delicacy and levitation are in.

The route finishes on the extreme left end of the stalactite fringe that extends all the way down the crag to Mission Impossible. It really is a dream route for me, especially since it was Mission that inspired me into sport mixed in the first place and last year's ascent was a personal milestone. It is a world-class venue and hopefully Tsunami falls into this crag and genre perfectly.

Tsunami is possibly Italy's first proper straight up M12 if you discount BuBu's new route Big Ben as a 'poor' line, climbing from the ground to the ice by one route and then back to the ground by another. There are lots of good lines around without resorting to funky business. It was an epic to bolt, taking 2 full days. My belayer, Malcolm McIlraith is a legend, giving up a month of his life this year at his expense to help me out, a debt it will be difficult to repay and an important factor in this game, because without a belayer you are nothing and they are hard to find!

The Mission Cave looks like a massive wave with the ice fringe as the white horses, hence Tsunami, also the route is named in memory of the disasters in Asia. I believe it has already been repeated by Slovenian legend Marko Lukic.

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