In the Sperlonga climbing area between Rome and Naples, Stefano Ghisolfi was the first to climb the l'Arenauta route, drilled by Giuliano Tarquini 20 years ago. He suggests grade 9b as an evaluation.
If this rating is confirmed by potential repeaters, this would be Ghisolfi's seventh 9b. And with Bibliography, Change and Perfecto Mundo the lead World Cup winner of 2021 has already managed three routes with a difficulty level of 9b+.
When time comes, strength comes
The route l'Arenauta got up a long time ago Stefano Ghisolfis bucket list. On his first visit to the heavily overhanging route, he had to admit defeat. Coming back even stronger recently, all he had to do was wait for the perfect conditions.
"The section after the still point was wet for several days, but not today, so I jumped at the opportunity right away."
Stefano Ghisolfi
"The section after the resting point was wet for several days, but not today, so I jumped at the opportunity right away," reports Stefano Ghisolfi.
Evaluation? Tribolo ma passo!
The whole project planning process felt so difficult, but the final step on the other hand was pretty easy. That's why Ghisolfi found it difficult to evaluate Giuliano Tarquini's project. Referring to the rating debate in December, Ghisolfi first said with a wink "Tribolo ma passo", which means something like: it was difficult, but I made it.
Video of the L'Arenauta design phase
But Ghisolfi didn't stop there and suggested grade 9b. If potential repeaters agreed with this rating, it would be the first sport climbing route of this grade in central and southern Italy.
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Credit: Images Sara Grippo