
Mount Civetta is a renowned massif in the Italian Dolomites, in the province of Belluno. Its breathtaking sheer north-west face has a vertical drop of more than 1,000 metres. Being also about 4 km long, mountaineers refer to it as “the mother of walls”. The direct north-west face route up Civetta, 3,220 m. On one day, Emil Solleder and Gustav Lettenbauer scaled the 1,100 metres of the wall, overcoming extreme difficulties. Ever since this route has been considered the premier “grade six” of the Alpine chain, and has been a special benchmark climb of classic extreme mountaineering.