18 Jul Man Hands – Lofoton new route

 
Mike Brumbaugh, Ari Menitove, Andrew Burr, Brian Heppner and Rob Pizem have free climbed a 360 meters new route called Man Hands (IV 5.11) literally right off the beach in northwestern Norway.
 
The Man Hands wall is located on one of the many, remote and mountainous islands about a 15 minute boat ride from mainland Lofoton. 
 
  “Ari was the man of the hour since he onsighted the second half of the routes pitches; leaving the main dihedral twice onto two exposed arêtes with committing face moves,” says Pizem. 
 
Pizem continued, “The route is mainly thin hands to hands with some tricky nutting in dihedrals. The last two pitches of the route are jungleneering to the summit but worth it none-the-less. If the route was in a place like Yosemite and a bit cleaner, it would be a just as classic as the Nutcracker.” 
 
Rob Pizem played competitive ice hockey for nearly 20 years, then  was introduced to rock climbing: after some top roping and first road trips to the New River Gorge, he was addicted to the problem solving, physical challenge and the climbing life style.
 
Since then his passion has brought him around the world to New Zealand, Europe, Canada, and Mexico for traditional, sport and big wall free climbs. Currently, he is inspired by the big stone and enjoys the challenges of new routing.
Read more on www.climbing.com