Centercourt Repeated

On January 19th, top Slovenian ice climbers Klemen Premrl and Aljaz Anderle made the second ascent of Centercourt (WI7+) in Austria's Gasteinertal. First ascensionist Albert Leichtfried suggested the route might rank as one of the world's hardest pure ice climbs (read the full story on the first ascent on the planetmountain website here).

Premrl and Anderle engaged in the very steep, thin and sustained ice of Centercourt. Photo: Josef Inhoeger

The pair travelled to the Gasteinertal in mid-January and warmed up on some of the classic hard ice routes in the valley before turning their attention to the challenge of the rarely-formed line of Centercourt. The two climbers managed to repeat the route in a single day, with no falls, feeling that it fully deserved its daunting grade. Afterwards, Premrl said of the climb:

Klemen Premrl absorbed in the serious climbing on the crux pitch of Centercourt. Photo: Urban Golob 

News has recently broken that shortly after Premrl and Anderle's second ascent, Austrians Rudolf Hauser and Helmut Holleis made the third ascent in similarly quick and efficient style, describing it as a 'world class line'. Having received so much attention in such a short time, Centercourt has lived up to its name and taken centre stage in European ice climbing this winter.

Aljaz Anderle moving through some extremely steep and intimidating terrain on the second ascent of Centercourt. Photo: Urban Golub

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