On Sunday, November 3, French climber Caroline Ciavaldini repeated the route Greenspit (8b/+) in Valle dell'Orco, Italy. She is only the third woman to have successfully free climbed the extremely difficult trad route.
After yourself Caroline Ciavaldini Having set herself the goal of mastering the art of crack climbing by 2024, she devoted much of this year to training for GreenspitShe built her own crack machine in the backyard so she could train at home while looking after the kids, and even spent some time in wide-boy Tom Randall's world-famous crack basement.
Bitter setback
Caroline suffered a major setback when she tore her thigh muscle during an attempt on Greenspit in May this year. She was all the more excited to finally be able to successfully climb her project in early November, making it the third female ascent of this route.
Caroline's personal thoughts on Greenspit
At the end of September I started attempting Greenspit again, after a couple of previous attempts in May this year when I actually tore my hamstring attempting the route.
Getting back into it this fall was almost like starting over because I had forgotten most of my beta.
Caroline Ciavaldini
This was my fourth session of the route this season and it was the same old story - I didn't think I could do it today. I felt under pressure, I was in a bad mood, I did my warm-up and it didn't feel good. I didn't think I was ready.
I realized I needed to change my mindset and just enjoy the climbing and appreciate having James and the kids there.
On my first attempt I managed to reach a new high before falling. I've never had two good attempts in one day at Greenspit so I wasn't particularly optimistic for my second attempt.
Step by Step
It was my first real route of this kind and it was so nice to feel almost like a beginner again. I loved the process of trying to improve my crack climbing technique.
I used a lot of visualization on this route, especially for the first section up to the rest area, which should have been relatively easy but which I found particularly difficult.
Caroline Ciavaldini
I really had to take it step by step, just focus on the current crack and not think about what was coming next. Not even really thinking about climbing the whole route, just taking the next step.
Mind cinema on the final meters
On my second attempt of the day, I made it to the rest area after the first section, something I had never done twice in one day before. At the rest area, I was able to clear my head, I knew the second section like the back of my hand, having spent many nights imagining how I would climb it.
So I just let my body do its thing because it knew how to do it. The main difficulties were still ahead of me but I just went at it with nothing else on my mind and the next thing I knew I had reached the rest area after the last crux. Just a few more moves and I didn't want to mess it up.
Now I started to feel a little pressure. I had decided to secure myself on this last section with just one friend, which I had placed somewhat hastily.
Images of that safety device ripping out and sending me crashing to the ground in front of my small children flashed through my mind.
Caroline Ciavaldini
I managed to block it out and made the last few moves. I had done it!
Overall, it was a really cool journey. The process of building my crack machine with the help of my neighbors, training on it, perfecting my technique, and pushing through the pain barrier to learn something new and climb this iconic route while my whole family watched was just amazing!
That might interest you
- Pumpy boulder linkup in the legendary Greenspit crack route repeated | Pura Pura (8c)
- Caroline Ciavaldini climbs the hardest route of her career with Le Voyage
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Credits: Cover picture Coralie Havas