South Tyrol’s Far North

The rugged area around the Tauferer Ahrntal valley is a popular haunt for locals – and is also the place where South Tyrolean climbing ace Simon Gietl and his brother Manuel love to attempt first ascents, where extreme mountaineer and ice climber Christoph Hainz feels at home, and biathlon star Dorothea Wierer goes for her high-altitude training. Will Simon and Manuel succeed in making the first ascent of the spectacular Orca route or will Manuel’s past trauma catch up with him again? What challenges does biathlete Dorothea have to overcome during her summer training? To answer these questions, we head to the Tauferer Ahrntal, a wild, unspoilt region in the north-east of South Tyrol. Here, ice and snow reveal prehistoric finds, but also often create difficult conditions for alpine farming and transhumance. In winter, South Tyrol’s far north becomes a playground for extreme mountaineer Christoph, who demonstrates his skills on the ephemeral routes made by spectacular icefalls and icicles.