Up European Climbing Report 2017

MYTHICAL ROUTES
FANTASY Marmolada d'Ombretta – by Maurizio Giordani
“I will talk about some of my creations from the past, their how and why, and I will try to do a quick and careful analysis of other things that happened afterwards, until we get to the summer of 2016, which has recently faded into a winter that had very little of winter (…)”
DELTA MINOX Pillar of Scingino, Val Masino – by Eugenio Pesci
“On the other hand, granite takes little time to avenge itself for this possible technical and motor abuse: it does so with little effort through the charm of the altitude, of the ice, of the grandiose and remote environments, and above all of its widespread presence in the great walls of the most famous mountains of all the continents, from Yosemite, to Greenland up to the Trango Towers, where the most challenging and famous granite itinerary among the existing ones is found: Wolfgang's Eternal flame Gu¨llich and Kurt Albert (…)”
ROMAN HOLIDAYS Monte Camicia – by Stefano Ardito*
"Many repeaters, in that vertical labyrinth, open more or less voluntary variants. The first route completely independent from that of 1934 was traced in 1999 by Roberto Iannilli and Ezio Bartolomei, and it is a masterpiece. In July 2016, in the first pitches of another new route
on the North, Roberto falls and dies together with Luca D'Andrea, his partner on dozens of new routes. (…)”
REBUS Corna di Medale – by Eugenio Pesci
“26 December 1984, around the time the sun sets, connecting path between the via ferrata of Corna di Medale, the large limestone wall of Lecco and the sector of the Antimedale sports routes.
Three boys with a very tired but satisfied look, decorated with scrap metal of all kinds, like trees from the holiday just past, meet at a crossroads with another group of young climbers; the latter, however, lighter and well whitened by puffs of magnesite. (…)”

CORRECTION
*in the paper edition the article by Stefano Ardito appears erroneously credited to Fabrizio Ardito. The author of the text is Stefano Ardito, as correctly appears in the index of the paper edition and on this page.
 

MYTHICAL SHOT
HUBBLE – by Carlo Caccia
"Search for something and find something else: in English we say serendipity. An example? Call Stefano Ghisolfi to find out more about his ascent of Ultimatum (9a+) at Massone and discover that among his projects for 2017 there is also the legendary Hubble. More: Stefano reveals to us that he has already tried it, that he has already experimented with those seven movements which on 14 June 1990, in a matter of seconds, they raised the difficulty bar. Ben Moon was looking for the first 8c+ and found the first 9a (…)”
DEATH – by Eva Toschi
“What makes a shot historic?
It's the first question I asked myself to choose which line to talk about.
The numbers? The grade - yes, it is certainly relevant -, the year in which it was bolted, the number of people who managed to climb it.
A meaning? What do I know, a meaning that is attributed to the mere fact of having climbed that line: it means being strong, talented, courageous, humble or arrogant or who knows what else.
A high-sounding name? Well, sometimes names are full of value and tell a little about the story behind them... (...)"

MYTHICAL BLOCK
GOLDRAKE'S GRANDSON – by Alberto Milani
“«Grandma, what does “mythical” mean?»…silence…«I don't know…well, maybe it means that it's beautiful»…silence…«ah…okay». I was 4 years old, and I don't know where I had heard that
adjective that had given me trouble with my poor, wonderfully simple grandmother.
Now, more than thirty years later, I find myself grappling with this word again,
wondering doubtfully: when can a block be defined as “myth”? (…)”

COMPETITIONS
THE LONG WAIT IS OVER by Stefano Michelin
"1985, the first climbing competition; 2020, the first Olympics with climbing. 35 years of stories, events, transformations, discussions that have seen the competitive side of this discipline transform, evolve, take shape, acquire content and finally lead to the Olympic dream (...)"

CHARACTERS
ALEXANDER MEGOS – by Lorenzo Frusteri
“Interviewing Alex Megos is a bit like trying to comment on Leonardo's Mona Lisa by saying something new, or even just interesting: not easy.
Alex Megos touched rock while still very young, and forged ahead in a disconcerting way, moving from the mountain to the competitions, from the crag to the boulder with disarming ease. He reaches 9a at just nineteen years old, climbs 8b+ bouldering and in short (…)”
PIETRO DAL PRÀ – by Matteo Pavana
“I am a complex man full of contradictions, which he has gone through
beautiful moments and others less pleasant, always on the fringes of Italian free climbing, but never in a bad mood, on the contrary, with a certain pride. For one reason or another, I have never climbed for too long periods of time, alternating my activity as a mountaineer with that of a mountain guide and skier. Now I realize that this was a great fortune (…)”
MATTEO RIVADOSSI – by Ruggero Bontempi
“Darkness and light, water and ice, deep abysses and high lands, humidity, worlds of stone.
Talking about mountains and mountaineering with Matteo Rivadossi is first of all a journey through the most authentic and primordial elements and forms of an austere and mysterious nature, so powerful that it can sometimes inspire justified fear. (…)”

REPORT 2015
edited by Alberto Milani
TOP ALPINISM AND ICE
TOP CLIFF
TOP BOULDERING

MATERIALS
edited by the editorial staff

REPORTS AND PROPOSALS
edited by Marco Romelli
ROCK
ICE AND MIXED