In di Berg am I gern…(I like to be in the mountains)

This is not only a refrain of an Austrian folk song, it is also reflective of the commitment of all mountaineers who passionately deal with rock and ice. Some of them come from the United States and are professionally involved in Germany. We met the Navy SEALs, stationed in Germany Naval Special Warfare Unit 2, for a private training session in the “Oetztal” Alps.

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On the first training day, the SEALs learned how to work with the rope and they also deepened their knowledge about different rope techniques. The main focus was on how the climber moves himself and his team as quickly as possible from point A to B.

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Above left: On operations where no natural attachment points are available, the Talon creates opportunity to build strong anchors. Above right: SEALs stay well camouflaged against the Tyrolean wall. Even in their spare time, you can find them wearing the Aor2 cover on the Core BUMP helmet.

Completely new technical possibilities have been tried, such as the Talon ground anchor (above, left), which can be applied where no attachment points are available.  

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For operators, the training involves what you’d expect: lots of going up (above left) and down (above right). They learn to climb with all their equipment on their belt, equipped with special Cosmas boots. Those boots were originally developed for Italian frogmen, but they seem to be quite suitable for climbing.

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