Giorgio Bendazzoli redpoints L'Attimo 9a at Covolo

Young Italians on a rise. The latest to climb 9a, after Fabio de Cesero at Ospo in Slovenia, is Giorgio Bendazzoli who recently repeated L’Attimo at Covolo.

Bendazzoli is no newcomer to hard routes and the 16-year-old from Breganze is literally stomping through the grades: first 8b+ in 2014, first 8c a few weeks later, first 8c+ in summer 2015 and now a further step forward. All these climbs are located at Covolo, the high-end crag hidden between the folds of the Vicenza foothills. Bendazzoli has backed up his talent with unequivocal competition results: European Champion Lead Under 16 in 2014, followed by a win at the Austrian stage of the European Lead Cup in 2015.

Speaking to planetmountain.com, Bendazzoli explained "Ever since last year L'attimo has been my super project at my 'home crag'. Two 8c’s are linked by a bouldery traverse, but there’s an almost total rest between them. In practice the route is fairly burly but also requires stamina. During my winter training I noticed some improvements and couldn’t wait for the Covolo season to begin… After a couple of failed attempts I managed to redpoint the line that only Silvio Reffo, Dino Lagni, Adam Ondra and Stefano Ghisolfi have climbed so far. I’m really chuffed with this result and I’ve already set my sights further, on some new super projects ;-)"

Talking about Dino Lagni. It was Bendazzoli’s trainer and Lead World Champion 1999 who indicated one of the youngsters winning traits: "Yes, it’s true that he’s really strong. But even more important, he’s really, really motivated."