Down Under - Grampians

Giada, Kindergarden (AUS). Photo Giulia Paoletti

The second half of the journey took part in the classic Grampians. After an unforgettable limestone experience in Castle Hill, I was excited to come back on sandstone. Since Australia was on the way back home, I took the opportunity to make another trip in this land.

This time I was together with Giulia and we rented a cozy cabin in Wartook, instead of staying in Stawell which is quite far away from most of the areas. Wartook is in fact an awesome place where to stay: located quite close from the North of the park, it is also reasonably handy for the Vic range in the South. Moreover, this little hamlet is placed in the middle of the wildness, with kangaroos that jump left and right in the backyard and the enjoyable sound of the birds which hosts you every day. It was gorgeous to feel this Australian atmosphere right next to the home door.

I chose to come back to Australia for several reasons, but the main ones were two: checking the Northern zones and climbing the new boulders in the South which have been established last August. I was very excited to check the new stuff in the Vic range.

As probably some of you know, most of the Northern areas had been closed during my first visit in 2015. This was due to a fire which hit the Grampians the summer before; then climbers, hikers and tourism needed to let the wild gain its balance again. I hence couldn’t see most of the classic sectors like Project wall, Hollow mountain and Kindergarten.

Kindergarten was actually the first I chose to check this year. It was ages that I wished to climb on this wall and I couldn’t resist despite the thick mist of the first morning. The rock is quite rough, but at the same time awesome: The texture feels nice and the shades on the wall are beautiful: the right side of the wall looks like a 3D painting drown ad sculpted by mother nature.

Sad but true, there aren’t any real boulders to climb: all the problems can’t top out and it is similar to other sectors where you can only make drop-off or forced connections.

Afterwards, we went to the famous Project wall, where I managed to sent the tall classic “Parallel lines” V11 and made a reasonably quick work on the powerful benchmark “Mana” V13. Both boulders have a gymnastic and funny style and, by the sunset, the Project wall shows its best bright and orange shades! That was brilliant!

Finally, we saw the Hollow mountain cave, first for a check then for a climbing day.

That area disappointed me a lot since there are tons of lines which aren’t very logic: connections left and right, climbing loops and problems which start somewhere and end in the middle of the roof. For this reason I chose to  grab only a flash ascent of “Dead can’t dance” V11, letting all the other lines aside.

What made me even more disappointed about The Northern Area was definitively the poor ethical side of the community, especially seeing how the rock is dirty and soiled. It wasn’t cool to see several climbers who often let the problems in the craziest and dirtiest ways I have probably ever seen.

Kindergarten and Hollow Mountain cave don’t get rain all year long and you could imagine how the rock and the holds could be. Despite the infinitive doses of tick marks, several holds have a super wide and permanent chalky halo around. This halo is often a white, thick and irremovable crust. Right above this, there is usually the fresh chalk left from the previous climber.

It wasn’t always like that and obviously not all the people behaves with the same approach, but that happened quite often. By the way, in these Northern sectors, the sandstone has some wonderful bright orange and beige shades with some nice grippy textures. It was a pity to see that most of the holds haven’t any of these features anymore and the good rock is just part the blank side of the boulders.

Coming up from Castle Hill, where everyone has an impressively sense of respect towards the rock, it wasn’t the most lovely thing to see.

But luckily, the wild and unknowing Victoria range in the South isn’t like that. Down there, all the hikes are harder and most of the climbers doesn’t spend a lot of time.

Mana, Project wall (AUS). Photo Giulia Paoletti

This side of the Grampians is basically unknown for the wide part of the community. The paths are wild and covered by thick bushes. Sometimes they are also steep and slippery and there isn’t any guidebook which can lead you into these areas. If you put all of these elements together, it is clear that many climbers stay away.

In the south, I could enjoy the real Australian bouldering and the previous trip in 2015 helped me to keep the expectations a bit lower.

It was crazy to note how the rock was different from the North; not only because of the natural rock conformation, but also because it hasn’t been ruined as much as it was in the North. In fact most of the rock is still at its natural statement.

One of the things I have learnt during these years is how much the climbers’ traffic depends on the fame of the areas. Once you need to get information, find the boulders into a wild zone or go for some unknown problems, a wide part of climbers usually lose the interest in it.

That’s sad and amazing at the same time; but it is honestly more amazing to me! This is why the Southern zone should stay protected a bit longer.

The Vic range was the place where I mostly wanted to go and where most of the inspiring problems are located. The first of the list were “Trillion Dollar Coin” and “Wave Swoop”, which have a totally different style from each other. For a reason or another, I only had one single session on both, where I wasn’t able to get the proper feeling. While you are on the trip you never really know how the plans could roll and how the agenda might change.  

“Wave Swoop” is very sharp, but definitively worthy. After a couple of goes I could link it from one move in, but obviously all the problem is pressed into the first action. A move which is quite far from my style and it involves a lot of things that I am not used to do like having tough skin or climbing with stiff shoes. It is also pretty hard and excited at the same time, but I somehow wasn’t ready to invest a high dose of time for that.

“Trillion dollars coin” is different and harder than the wave in Mt. Fox. It deals of another problem I removed, but also another problem I added for my next trip!

Beside these two lines, I really wished to see tons of other stuff but obviously I hadn’t enough energies and time to check all of them.

“Survival of the Prettiest” and “Golden Rule” have been definitively the best ones I have climbed. Not only from the trip, since they can probably be among the coolest ever.

The end came always quicker than what you usually want and I unfortunately had an annoying heel injury for the last part. I think it should have been bizarre seeing me limping with two pads, among the bush and damning every step I did. I could anyway stay positive, enjoying the rest of the days out (despite the hikes, obviously J ).

This last section have been spent upon a beautiful hill, trying a super hard and amazing piece of rock called “The stepping stone”. One of the hold on Stepping stone is in my opinion a contender for the best pinch in the Grampians and the rock quality stands out from all the rest: This made me falling in love very quickly. Beside the rock and the climbing which are awesome, It is also located in an amazing area. Well, you might probably don’t like the path to get there, but once you reach the edge of the hill, the location is stunning and it has been good to spend four days feeling out of the real world. The problem is hard, hard and hard, but definitively enjoyable! On the last day I also got some progresses, but one move was still missing.

There was nothing I desired more than grabbing that pinch, but at the end I couldn’t.

I Hope to come back stronger one day, both to try it again and to check all the other scattered gems of the South. See you next time OZ!

The Golden Rule, Australia.

Survival of the prettiest, Australia.

The X pinch, Australia. Photo Giulia Paoletti

Down Under - Castle Hill

Spittle Hill (NZ).

I still can’t believe I have been bouldering in New Zealand last May. Looking at the map, at the places where I have gone to, it feels awesome to have visited several areas which were only utopia in the past. I still remember myself being in front of the screen, watching climbing videos for hours at the age of 12. I wondered if some day I could have put my hands on Mandala, Shosholooza or many other lines that the Big Up Production could show.

Obviously I couldn’t miss the Big Game film, which made me dream about Castle Hill. Maybe one day, I said, with my dad laughing and kidding. We both knew it would have been a trip too ambitious to realize.  

Then, last May the 8^th, I found myself in front of the gate, waiting for a flight to Christchurch. I couldn’t even remember how this experience  would have been imagined back in the years.  Since everything was happening  very quickly, it was hard to realize where I was truly going to. In fact, after three weeks of bouldering in Castle Hill, it was time to leave again. During the outbound flight I could watch the whole Castle Hill basin rolling away from above. There, more than every other time, I could finally realize how special it was being in New Zealand.  

I don’t want to tell or describe the areas too much in the details. I opted to chose four boulders which has been more special than the other ones during this trip. Every boulder matches with unique emotions/feelings and obviously every line has its own story. So these have been my four top moments on the island.

The Big Show (Flock Hill) - FA

Before going to NZ, I spent lots of hours cleaning new boulders, both in Basilicata and Aosta Valley. In some days I was lucky to find gold, other days I was even luckier to climb some of these gorgeous projects. But I must confess I wasn’t able to climb any super hard projects in the first months of 2016.

 I was honestly satisfied about the first half of the year, since I could establish a couple of stunners I was searching for a very long time. It was more like a gems haunt, than a bouldering  life strictly connected to the hard problems. I knew I was going great about the quality aspect, but for sure, I wasn’t doing the best performances ever. Comparing  2015 to 2016, it was actually a fail in terms of numbers. I first didn’t care too much about this, but in some days this aspect started to build in me some pressures.

I admit I felt ridiculous having these doubts. First of all I didn’t realize from where this little pressure could come from. I was totally okay and proud about what I was doing, but knowing that most of community is only fascinated by hard climbs, I somehow disagreed with my inner voice. I couldn’t catch if it was because I wasn’t climbing as hard as before, or simply because I felt I must do hard lines. In the second case, it would have been  more like a wraith pressure coming from external factors.

The big show definitively didn’t change my inner statement. Rather, it probably gave me more push to stay on my current side, to follow my continue energy, doing new lines and just thinking about the beauty of the rock. At least it gave me the feedback I was doing what was really nice to me.

Even this time, any hard ascent would have happened. But on the other hand, I fall in love with what I was doing: its beauty seduced me totally.

During that day in Flock Hill, I was somehow troubled and negative. After a long and easy warm up for my elbow injury, I moved to the boulder to find a proper place to bind the rope. This is usually a crucial and heinous point of the day, since I don’t like the gear and the anchor’s procedures. After spending the usual time being nervous for these, I found a stone where to tie the rope. I wasn’t totally safe, so I asked to Giulia to pull the other side of the rope and the stone didn’t move. So, it was okay after all. J

Once hanged on the rope, I could realize I would have never tried it within that day: I was scary even looking down. I was really insecure and I couldn’t visualize myself on the upper moves, 6 meters high off the ground, with 3 pads and a scary girl at the bottom.  But, almost unconsciously, I forced myself to put chalk on giving it a far touch of hope.  Before seeing the top section, I thought I could have sent this project pretty quickly; but at that point all my certainties were falling apart and I needed to get into reality soon. Anything wasn’t working well, everything felt harder than what I thought here in NZ: the top outs, the style, tie the ropes, the hikes.

 I went for a second top rope go and I begun to hang on the holds, although I kept to feel scary. Since the negative sense was eroding me, I realized I needed help, so I started a long chat with Giulia. She usually helps me a lot in these situations, where I can only see the black side of life. She could find a touch of positive and she shined me that the things weren’t rolling as bad as I thought. I needed patience, she supposed.

That chat gave me a huge help. In fact, the third top-rope session made me get clearer ideas and I was also able to link several moves together, being scary still. I had to face I had a relevant changing after talking with her. I took another break time, where I kept talking about the situation and the feelings which were getting better.

Despite none of us was telling, it almost seemed I was thinking about a go from the bottom soon. We looked at each other and we both knew it was too early for that. I still had a couple of doubts in the upper part, but I opted to skip a further attempt from above. We barely set our three crash pads. I was trusting in her spotting as I had never done before, I breath and I approached towards the starting holds. If I would have failed it would have been a big fall, for sure. But if not, it would have been probably one of the best climbing moment in my carrier. I took the risk and I turned my mind off. After few moves I could feel the right flow coming up. The climb is consistent all the way to the top, but the more I climbed the more I could trust me. I reached the no fall zone where a precarious smear got me scary. That foothold was very high, slippery and small. I pushed my speedster on to it, trusting as much as I could. I reached the mantle and I topped it out.

The Big Show was definitively one of my favorite climbing moment ever. I went down and I looked at both Giulia and the boulder. I couldn’t even image this happy ending few hours before.

The Big Show FA, Flock Hill (NZ).

Biotronic (Quantum field) - FA

An exception in the area. A contender for the steepest boulder of the basin and this could say a lot, considering that the other contenders might be a couple, no more. 

Biotronic has been very important for my trip, my season and probably for my climbing life in general. It is rare to find a hard project to work, with only the holds you need, with compact rock and, more important, something you can enjoy from the first go until the last one. If you also consider it might be one of the best line of the area, all the feelings were going to be positive this time.

Biotronic could summarize all the emotions of bouldering in a full and single and perfect package.  It is very hard to describe the tons of aspects and features I constantly look for in bouldering. Biotronic had, for most part of the features, very high values and it could keep me enjoy the process despite I couldn’t catch one of the move after three long sessions.  That move was hard, balancing and very tricky to me.

When the move finally happened, it felt easier than what I excepted. I can’t tell how happy I was to have figured out such a nice move where the success was made by micro details.

The day later I came back and I quickly repeated the move after few goes. There were very positive vibes that day in the air, but the high upper slab started to worry me more than in every other session. I knew I was close to link it all together, but I couldn’t check the top part with the rope. Knowing I was close, made me aware about the danger and the risk of the upper part. A risk I hadn’t looked after during the previous days.

Hard to hear, but I got to the point of a very radical and miserable decision: I wanted to make a drop off after reaching the grove where you can remove your hands. I know it was going to be a very shameful deal, but I wished to link those moves together. I would have done it drop off for myself, letting the boulder as a totally open project for the next braver climber.

I took this decision and then I rested to execute it in this way. My mind was very relaxed, knowing that I wasn’t going to risk a bad fall. I was climbing very well mentally, because I chose the shortest way of the miserable drop off. I could do the whole first part very well and I reached the groove where I thought to leave the problem.

Obviously, I changed quickly my idea. I couldn’t jump down. Few minutes later that horrible decision, I was only thinking about smearing and trying despite the risk I knew to take. I asked for chalk and Stuart smartly extended my bag with his stick. I chalked my hands, my shoes and a couple of smearing. It was time to do it and didn’t look back anymore. I breath and I could feel myself relaxed enough. I went up slowly, carefully, safely, feeling every smear, every poor texture, every vibes the shoes could gave me. I reached the top and I simply thought how stupid I was to only think about a possible drop off.

Biotronic FA, Quantum Field (NZ). Photo Giulia Paoletti

Kiss the sky low (Flock Hill)

Basically the only repeating performance of the trip and another boulder which gave me back a kind of confidence. It was months that I didn’t try something as hard as this one and that wouldn’t be a project or a boulder I cleaned by my own. A part of mine still needed to climb an hard boulder for the confused reasons I explained before and “Kiss the sky” helped somehow to shake off those negative and wraith pressures.

Right before Kiss the sky, I could grab the third ascent of a beautiful problem named “The little book of calm” and this also helped. 

I could learn that having lower expectations and giving less importance at the boulders could make me a better climber and this is definitively a way I want to take for my future. I did it few times in the past and it worked well, so I promised to myself to be colder and more relaxed in the next trips. 

That day in Flock Hill we experienced a very apocalyptic wind since the sun arose. The pads couldn’t stay. It was cold, annoying and damn hard to climb. Me, Giulia and Stuart needed to switch our turns as pad keepers, otherwise the pads would have flown away. I had never seen something similar. We thought to have seen the worst, but in the middle of the afternoon, when we got to Kiss the sky, a stronger wind came. We set the pads, but they weren’t able to stay on the ground despite our efforts. We could see the water flowing from the pounds about the next boulders. The scenario was unreal.

Then, we finally had few seconds of calm; I was with my shoes on ready for my flash go. I am not a super fan of the flash go, but sometimes I like to attempt some problems in this style. I was in a rush because of the wind; I knew it was going to blow again soon and I didn’t remove my hoodie. I climbed the boulder until the last hard move: a huge span to a decent and rounded sloper behind a blind corner. I missed it for a very little. Probably the rush wasn’t the best thing for the situation and I wasn’t focused as I wished. I fall down and I immediately jumped again on the boulders doing the big moves easily. While I was still checking the exit, Gulia lost a couple of pads. The last holds aren’t so bad, but it seemed to be a weird and balancing climbing. I kept going, while I looked down seeing no pads and starting to be really scary. I reached the slippery top and I needed to get down, but the wind was still making me losing the balance. I reached the bottom and I lied on the pads.

I waited several minutes and then the wind turned into a chill breeze for a while. I started my second go and this time I removed my hoodie. It was probably the key. J Everything was okay: my climbing, the big move, the wind and the pads.

Checking holds on "Kiss the Sky" in Flock Hill (NZ). Photo Bevan Triebels

Cold Fusion (Quantum Field)

Obviously it is not the best boulder on earth, that’s clear. One of those sample of mediocre boulder, but with brilliant moves which simply make you enjoy the entire learning process. 

Cold Fusion may represents Castle Hill in a nutshell: 3 meters of rock with a slightly overhang angle, stand start from a slippery pocket and a nasty edge which is basically one of the few holds that the entire wall has to offer. Bad feet, one of those it is also insanely sharp for your right shoe. Actually they are not bad smears, but every footholds point in the wrong direction. Nearly at the top, there are two opposite slopy features into a deep hole, and then a final illusionary jug before the rounded lip. To cut it short, one of those boulder with all the holds you need: one more would be too much, one less and it would be impossible. Again, another typical boulder that the number lovers are going to hate probably, since it’s only rated as V11.

While you climb it, every mistake can lead to further and bigger mistakes the higher you go, until the point where your position is simply too wrong to keep going and you are off the wall. To reach the beta, the learning process required me a lot of goes, energy and skin. Some mistakes started to be clear after a while, making some small and tiny adjustments for the later attempts.

 After a bit, I could get how similar this boulder is to “La Prou” in Cresciano. Probably harder, since you haven’t anything to pull on. I realized how much important was to put the first high foot to start in the precise spot. This could allow me to adjust the first hold well, so getting higher with my body, finding  the right position and trying the first move in a proper balance. If that foot wasn’t perfectly located, there weren’t any chances to grab the first sloper correctly and I was off. Since the first foot  was hard to place, it quickly became clear how important was the zone where I step on the pad before pulling. If I step good, I could put the foot as I wanted, hence having chances; if the foot wasn’t good, all the other pieces of the puzzle couldn’t match.

I am obviously a fan of these lines, but I need to admit it may get you frustrated. Talking with Stuart between the breaks, we analyzed the body positions, the moves and we also talked about the NZ style in general. We wondered why people don’t go to Castle Hill very often. Cold Fusion was actually a perfect sample to talk about the poor traffic of climbers. I think the area could be hard for someone who takes care about numbers, fashion or quick ticks.

More tries, more rest and more studying from the bottom. Other sessions and other improvements, but still the moves couldn’t come easy. I knew that to climb it, I needed to climb it well without doing any efforts. Other break, other studying.

Then I stepped perfectly on the pad and I pushed on the right foot. It was good, I already knew it was going to happen even if I was only at the beginning. This time no mistakes, every details could just build better adjustments for the next moves and while I was climbing I could think I was going to do it. The problem was somehow solved and I hit the jug.

Just to be sure than anything can’t come easier here, I still had troubles on the mantle, but after a couple of minutes, I could stand at the top of one of the freakiest problem I have ever completed! 

Cold Fusion in Quantum Field (NZ). Photo Giulia Paoletti

Springtime - Home projects

"Fake class" V12, Valle d'Aosta. Photo Andrea Zanone

It’s sometime good to stop for a while, reflecting and realizing how lucky my hometown position is for bouldering. It's something that I usually underestimate, but in some moments I have the brilliant feeling to note how many good things I can do in a couple of hours driving. Beyond the ultra classic and nowadays very well known areas of Ticino, Valais and Varazze, there are also other little sectors where to go: Isolated locations, where the crowds fortunately don’t like to go and where a climbing day can often turns into a very pleasant day with only  the wild around you. Last year I spent a full and very busy period in April in Aosta  valley, on the back side of my home town, where these little sectors showed me hidden gems, scattered zones, good rock and possibilities to clean new good lines.

During the past year I only had 3 weeks to enjoy these beautiful balance, in addition of  a couple of  cold and good weeks in December. Last April, I was coming from 2 Months in Font and I was heading to the Grampians in May, right 20 days after the trip in the Forest. I had short time, my shape and motivations was extremely high, so I didn’t think about training or other stuff and I spent loads of time in climbing and exploring almost every day. 

This season things rolled differently; I had two months between my usual winter trip and the chasing winter of our summer, my shape wasn’t as good as 12 months ago and I hence needed to balance a bit of training with cleaning first and climbing then. That has been for sure a good time, even if sometimes was hard to manage both things giving 100% on both parts. Besides, I have been also focused on other aspects like a partnership with a new sponsor, editing new clips at home, shaping some climbing holds and make a plan for the upcoming trip to New Zealand and Australia.

Today is the last day at home and I obviously think about the experiences I had on these new boulders. I don’t want to dwell too much with words, since I have uploaded several photos on my Instagram page when something emotional came out.  I wanted to share a little gallery here below, especially for what concerns a very funny, and muddy, cave I have been cleaning in the last couple of weeks. 

It is now time to think about the next trip to Castle Hill and say hello to these places until the next fall.

The new ones from this springtime:

Doppia Fama V12 FA  **

Boiler Arete V10 FA ****

78 % V11 FA ***

Ghia V12 FA *****

Riot in Hell V10 FA (Tinello) ****

Acqua di Gio V9 FA **

Fake Class V12 FA ****

Kinshasa V13 FA ***

Undercut V13 FA ***

Cave project, Valle d'Aosta

Andrea Zanone trying "Raton Matado", Valle d'Aosta

"Kinshasa" V13, Valle d'Aosta

Basilicata, February 2016

Campomaggiore, Basilicata

It was one of those lonely night at home, right before the dinner time. January was almost over and a little training loop was coming to an end. It had not been an efficient training loop; for a reason or another I missed the proper pace and I felt sorer than what I should have been. That night was the end of a resting day and I was managing the last things before my upcoming trip: a tour among the southern Italian sandstone boulders. During the journey I would have been alone and many thoughts was making me doubtful. The last time I moved for a long travel was in November. Like it usually befalls, in the previous winter months, I lost energies up on the projects in Aosta valley. I also went to Ticino a couple of times, then I stuck myself into the gym for wide part of January. I felt I needed a little change, so I opted to set the rock climbing a side for a bit. At the end of the month, I felt psyched to travel once again. I needed to check new places, new areas, new stones. But, more than other times, I needed to look for something special, something a bit out of the lines. At the same moment, I also felt frightened to move for something I didn't know. I felt like a bit trapped from the home comfort and by the family warmth of the closest areas, which gave me assurance and safety. I went for the dinner at my Granma's place, like it often happens, and I kept thinking about the travel of the upcoming days.

My grandma asked me a favor for the next Tuesday and I replied I couldn't do it since I would have been off. I explained I was moving to Basilicata, in the southern part of Italy for a couple of weeks or maybe more. She still reminds well, so she knew I hadn't been down there yet. "Why do you go there, are there any special stones?" she asked. I couldn't give her a proper reply. I just said I hadn't no clue about what she asked. That was in fact a true answer. I heard rumors about the area, I asked a couple of opinions and I also checked a bunch of photos, but I didn't know if the trip would have been worthy or not. I was extremely keen to go down and look for new brilliant lines. The psyche was high, but obviously nothing was guaranteed. I could have found nothing, or maybe everything.

I left just few nights later. It was in the middle of the nighttime and nobody was around. The journey was long and the more I went ahead, the more that question resounded in my mind. Who knows if there would have been the things I was looking for. I felt insecure, to be honest. My car was at its last journey. It is a very hold station wagon and since a couple of months it is not totally safe in the highway bends. It somehow could mirror my travel doubts. Why, I asked to myself once again; Tons of good projects were awaits in the valleys next to my place, while I was doing a 1000 km travel for something I wasn't sure to find. I couldn't get an answer, but I kept driving until the next afternoon. I left the freeway in Foggia and the landscapes were absolutely Southern.

In the late afternoon I got to Campomaggiore, the village above the climbing sectors. The little hamlet has a very quiet atmosphere and this gave me somehow a touch of certainty. The B&B was cozy and pretty. The first steps into my room helped me a bit to remove the fears I stored during the journey. I felt home atmosphere and I had the comforts I wished. Even if I hadn't seen any pieces of rock yet, I couldn't imagine the sandstone and I felt a bit more positive. Right before night, all the thoughts went away and I felt serene again. By this time I was there, and the step to move down was completed. I was satisfied to have won once again the home trap and I started to built positive thoughts. The morning later I would have had appointment with Marco, a friend of mine from Potenza who was free to show me around. I sincerely hoped that the answer of my grandma could find a touch of true. Even if the first day would haven't been enough, I truly wanted to clarify those doubts within the end of the stay.

Marco carried me up to the area and after the hike among the cows we got to the first blocs. The quality of the first 2 rocks was pretty high and upper to my expectations. The first one, "Ole'" 7C, presented some spider webs at the bottom and a Font "tortoise" holds at the top. Not only the looking was good, but even the texture was something I really liked. The promises were now a bit higher and I was fading into a positive certainty.

I spent the first days jumping from a classic to another. Michele Caminati checked the zone back in the seasons and many of the boulders he freed have an amazing aspect. "La chiave del Sole" 8A+ has been even better than what I supposed and "Empire state boulder" (again 8A+) went absolutely beyond any expectations.

La chiave del Sole (2nd asc), Basilicata.

Empire State Boulder (2nd asc), Basilicata. Photo Marco Giorgio

Marco had more free time than what we thought and we fortunately went chasing together. We found many things to put in the list; some of those were tall and pure, with a super solid sandstone. If I was satisfied from the classics, I was probably even more fulfilled to see all of these nice virgin boulders. The exploration side was obviously the fact who worried me more, since it wasn't guaranteed at all. I didn't only find interesting boulders to clean, but I also checked different things which are worthy to make a trip back in the next years.

I spent several days of the trip and a good amount of efforts into a specific and beautiful project. This bloc is one of the first you meet on the way up and it features the same Mt Fox's rock; namely the typical famous, and infamous, orange spider-webs conformations of the Grampians. After two intensive and long days of attempts, I managed to get the right sequence and climb all the single moves. The way I was using is very specific, conditions depending and finger strength requiring. It counts a total of five moves, where the crimpy full angle of the fingers is necessary. I hence needed to keep my fingers really close for a long range of time. Being this one of my weakest skills, the experience turned into a hard deal to manage. I was anyway happy to see little improvements day by day; despite the conditions were getting worse and worse and the skin started to be moist after the weeks, I felt I was getting the right feelings on the full crimp actions and I was psyched to see the parts coming together. I kept forcing myself to keep the fist super close, and I surprisingly could see some progresses after a while.

The last cool day was coming and I knew it was the last chance for a good and reasonable session. I woke up early as usual and I was ready under the crimps at 8 o'clock. In the very early morning the area tends to be humid, and, since the boulder is facing south, it quickly gets warm. I so had a good windows opportunity between 8 and 11, when the attempts could have had a sense and it would have been dry, but not insanely hot. Few degrees less could have helped me a bit, but it wasn't time to complain. I began the session and I went actually well in few occasions. I missed the sending before the last move and I could climb the problem in two overlapping parts. 11 o clock came, skin was very over and the sun was covering all the face making the rock burning. I was quite disappointed to miss it, but somehow happy to know what is waiting for my next visit. The doubtful pre-journey questions were a memory only.

Project, Basilicata. Photo Marco Giorgio

Searching for new and exciting lines consisted in the big goal of my trip, mostly during the second half of the stay. I wished to find something very special and, at that point, I knew the chaces were high. During one of the long breaks between the project sessions, I went exploring a lower part of an old sector. Marco had already been there in the past, but he couldn't remember if there were any special things or not. We progressed with quick and secure steps through the known part of the zone, then our steps became slower and the glances left and right were more intense. We went further and we got into another blocs band. We eyed a bunch of great stones in the middle of the forest and we followed an imaginary path to reach them. Coming out of the thick vegetation, we step in front of what I was truly looking for. It was too early to be fascinated, so I opted to give a deeper and rational looking. After several minutes I understood it was very doable, not too hard and I was sure it was going to be a brilliant problem; One of those I have always wished to find in my life. The day was over and we went back to the car, making the appointment for the day after. It was tacit where we were going to go; that line needed to born and we both were fascinated by its beauty. The morning later I brushed an old highball, called "Urban Cowboy" V8, one of the best arete I have ever climbed. Happy from the beauty of this, we were ready to step into the new amazing project. We were cleaning and chalking in a deep silence; both lost into their own thoughts. Just few technical comments seemed to be allowed. The atmosphere was unique. In the late afternoon it was ready, and I quickly started to try the sequences with a couple of pads.

After a session I knew I could have done it and the quality of the moves gave a further touch of beauty. We looked at the clock; Marco needed to be at the gym right after and he had to move around five o'clock. I would have had a further hour, but I really wanted to climb with him. We found the line together, we cleaned it and we were both part of this process. I cooled down my fingers and I started positive. I step through the crux, I went ahead and I reached the upper part, where the prow became very wide and I am at the full extension with my arms. I had some troubles before the exit, but I fortunately got it. I topped it out. I had climbed my favorite line and many efforts had been paid off in few seconds only. The name choosen is "Geometrie non Euclidee". The research could start once again and I felt happy to have found a positive answers to the many pre-journey questions.

The days later, we were able to find other nice looking problems and many other projects I couldn't clean for questions of time. I will think about those for many days, until the next time I will be back in this land. I will definitively start with a more secure approach, but always searching for something new and not very guaranteed. Thank you Basilicata, hope to see you soon!

Urban Cowboy, Basilicata. 

Geometrie non euclidee (FA), Basilicata. Photo Marco Giorgio

Occhio di Bue, Basilicata.

Titanic (FA), Basilicata. Photo Marco Giorgio

Agronomono non Praticante, Basilicata. Photo Marco Giorgio

Basento Ruggente (FA), Basilicata

2015 - Top 10 problems

Here is the usual top-10 list of my favorite boulders of the year. It has been a really tough and long choice to draft the best moments/lines I did during the 2015. I saw many shapes, tons of good rock, amazing problems and these are what I suppose to be the best 10 ones of the last 12 months. Enjoy, and sorry for the missing photo at the 7th place.

- 10th. "The Outsider", Grampians (AUS).

Riky on "The Outsider".

- 9th. "The Big Island", Fontainebleau (FRA).

Photo Stefan Kuerzi

- 8th. "Partage/Partage Assis", Fontainebleau (FRA).

Photo Stefan Kuerzi

7th. "Osiris", Tennessee (USA). I unfortunately don't have any pictures of this one.


6th. "Elephunk", Fontainebleau (FRA).

Photo Stefan Kuerzi

5th. "Nichilismo", Valle Cervo (ITA).

Photo Giulia Paoletti

4th. "Appartenance", Fontainebleau (FRA).

Photo Stefan Kuerzi

3rd. "Owning the weather", Grampians (AUS).

Screenshot from the clip

2nd. "Ebano", Tennessee (USA).

Photo Beau Kahler

1st. "Illusion du Choix", Fontainebleau (FRA).

Photo Stefan Kuerzi