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The Great Swiss climbing tour: bolting your way up

What is sport climbing all about? And where are the most beautiful spots in Switzerland to reach new heights, hanging on by your fingernails?

Follow professional German climber Pirmin Bertle in this exclusive swissinfo.ch series as he journeys in his van through Switzerland’s natural wonders; discovering where you can climb hard, or simply take a deep breath and reconnect with nature. 

In this episode, Pirmin explains what bolting in climbing is all about on the backdrop of the beautiful Gastlosen ridge. But first he shows us the amazing Still Water Forest (‘Stillwasserwald’), tells the story of a devilish encounter, and becomes an audience of one for an alphorn player.

Bertle has been living in Fribourg, Switzerland for ten years. One of the top sport rock climbers in the world, he’s bolted and climbed two of the hardest routes in the country, “La Céne du Lézard” in Jansegg and “Meiose” in Charmey, both in canton Fribourg. 


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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR