On July 26, 2026, Manuel Agreiter turned sixty. To celebrate, he completed 60° Musicafe on Pala delle Guide, above the Franz Kostner Hut, together with his son Matteo. He had started opening the route several years earlier.
The new route is called 60° Musicafe. The number naturally marks Manuel’s sixtieth birthday, while the second part of the name comes from much farther away, in Sardinia. Manuel often travels to the island to climb, and Musicafe is the name of a pizzeria in Cala Gonone that had stuck in his mind after one of his stays there.
The route climbs Pala delle Guide, not far from Gino Belumàt, another line opened by Manuel on the same wall in 2016. Ten years later, Manuel has therefore left his mark once again on a wall he knows extremely well and that has been part of his life for almost four decades.
A line spotted years ago
Manuel had noticed this line on Pala delle Guide several years ago. He was looking for an interesting route, without extreme difficulties, that would follow the most natural features of the wall. The project, however, remained unfinished for several years. In the summer of 2026, he decided it was time to return and complete it.
At first, Manuel worked on the route by rappelling from above, establishing the belays and placing some of the bolts. Later, he continued bolting from the ground up, searching directly on the wall for the best line. The project was then left unfinished for a few years, waiting for the right time to return to it.
In the summer of 2026, Manuel went back to Pala delle Guide determined to finish the route. His son Matteo joined him for this final stage, helping with the remaining work and climbing the new line with him.
The route was finally completed on July 26, Manuel’s sixtieth birthday. That coincidence gives 60° Musicafe a special meaning: a line first imagined years earlier, left waiting on the wall for some time, and eventually completed with his son on a day that would be difficult to forget.
Manuel Agreiter during the opening of 60° Musicafe on Pala delle Guide.
Climbing 60° Musicafe
60° Musicafe is approximately 170 metres long, with difficulties up to 7a and 6b mandatory on the French grading scale. The route is bolted; a 60-metre rope and 12 quickdraws are all that is needed for a repeat.
What stands out most, however, is the quality of the rock. Apart from the opening section, where a little more care is required, the rest of the route offers very enjoyable climbing on excellent, compact rock.
The first pitch in particular took Manuel some time to work out. As he explains, he wanted to find a line that was not extreme, moving back and forth across the wall to identify the best passages. From the following pitches onward, the route becomes more direct and the rock quality improves considerably.
The good climbing continues all the way to the upper part of the wall. Even the final two pitches, Manuel points out, “are never trivial.”
Pala delle Guide also has another particularly favourable feature: it catches the sun from early in the morning and tends to dry quickly, even after a few thunderstorms. It is a wall that Manuel, with good reason, describes as “a little gem.”
A wall above home
There is another side to this story that grades and route descriptions cannot really convey. For Manuel, Pala delle Guide is not simply a wall where he happened to find space for a new climbing route.
Just below it stands the Franz Kostner Hut at Vallon, owned by the Bolzano section of the Italian Alpine Club (CAI). Manuel has looked after the hut together with his wife Cristina and their son Matteo since it first opened, 38 years ago.
Manuel was therefore only in his early twenties when this long chapter of his life began. Since then, the Agreiter family have spent their summers up there, at the foot of the Sella massif. The wall that, for a visiting climber, might be the destination of a single day in the mountains is part of their everyday landscape.
“Up there is our summer residence, our life,” Manuel says.
Perhaps this detail says more about 60° Musicafe than anything else. It is not simply a new climbing route, but a line born on a wall Manuel has watched and known for decades, started years ago and finally completed with Matteo on his sixtieth birthday.
Approach and descent
Pala delle Guide is reached from the Franz Kostner Hut, which can be accessed from Corvara using the lifts. From the hut, initially follow trail no. 638 towards Piz Boè. After about ten minutes, leave the trail and head towards the wall.
To reach the start of the route, climb past the rocky step guarding the base of the wall on the left. For the descent, follow trail no. 672 back to the Franz Kostner Hut.
60° Musicafe – Pala delle Guide
Opened by: Manuel and Matteo Agreiter
Completed: July 26, 2026
Length: approximately 170 m
Difficulty: 7a, 6b mandatory
Commitment: S2/I
Equipment: 60 m rope, 12 quickdraws
Approach: from the Franz Kostner Hut at Vallon
Descent: trail no. 672
