The Gondo Crack is a 17-meter-long crack line that was set up by the two Italians Allesandro Manini and Maurizio Pellizzon at the end of the 90s. Since then, the route has been waiting for a free ascent. At the beginning of April, the Austrian Barbara Zangerl and the Italian Jacopo Larcher got the first free ascent. Your suggestion: 8c.
The Gondo Crack is a beautiful crack line in the Cippo sector near Gondo, on which big names like the British crack climbing specialist Tom Randell tried their hand at. Tom has been on the route several times since 2014. He even stuck a wedge to his shirt to make it quicker to place. That didn't help either, the route resisted a free ascent.
Long wait is over
Barbara and Jacopo first climbed the Gondo Crack with the bolts and went one better the next day. Both started the route with trad style. Barbara quickly put a cam in her mouth to be able to place it more quickly.
The two spent around three days on the route last year before they could climb the individual trains. After two more days this year the on-site visit worked: "I sent it first on bolts and made the first ascent, and of course on the same day, a few tries later, Jacopo also sent it," says Barbara in an interview . "For us it was just logical to use the bolts to work on the route because they were there, and in fact it doesn't really make a difference if you are toproping the route first or working it on bolts for a greenpoint ascent", Barbara continues to comment. The two suggest 8c as the level of difficulty.
Tom Randall on the Gondo Crack
What an accomplishment the two accomplished, you can feel in this epicTV show with Tom Randall from the year 2014.
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Credits: picture Richard Felderer, quota alpinist
[…] Finally: Gondo Crack freed by Barbara Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher […]