Sass Maor is one of the most beautiful mountains in the Dolomites. Yann Borgnet and Antoine Bouqueret have just opened a 19-pitch route on the thousand-meter-high east face, without bolts. This was Yann Borgnet’s third visit to this corner of the Pale di San Martino. A big climb and a major route, he tells us, still amazed by their adventure.
The Sass Maor and its eastern face? “I’ve been fascinated by it for a long time“, says Yann Borgnet. After a summer of guiding and teaching at ENSA, Yann Borgnet set off for the Dolomites, this time without trainees, but with a new climbing companion, Antoine Bouqueret. Their objective? The Sass Maor, its thousand meters of limestone rising in a single spurt above Val Pradidali, in the Pale. Over the phone, Yann Borgnet makes no secret of his enthusiasm: in just over two days, they have succeeded in mapping out a new route on this wall, one of the most imposing in the Dolomites. A major route, and a fine alignment of planets to get there.
It’s no coincidence: Yann Borgnet knew the area, and had retained the idea that “there was still room“. In 2015, during his Alpine Line crossing, Yann climbed two of the three most famous routes on the Sass Maor: Biasin and Supermatita. “We did these two routes on the east face. Yoann Joly and I climbed Biasin, a fairly classic route in good rock, with a