Exo-Ciuc!, new ice climb in Valgrisenche by Bonino and Parru

Now that's really what I'd call a Christmas surprise! I returned home on the 24th after a long trip to Patagonia: a 27 hour journey, a full Christmas Eve dinner with relatives to well past midnight, followed by a dawn wake up… all this certainly didn't bode well for the climbing the next day. But… that afternoon I'd spoken to friends from Bergamo and exchanged seasons greetings, and Stefano had happened to mention that Tiziana would be coming to Valgrisenche the next day. All of a sudden I switched into ice climbing mode and we agreed to meet up at 7:30!

That morning I woke up in a state of comatose and uttered only a few words: "I'll never stop being amazed at how stupid I am sometimes!" But since I was more or less awake, I thought I might as well get ready. There were five of us. Unaware of where we were heading I acted like a client andsimply followed the others. We met at the base of the Giasson icefall and climbed this. The other three left me to climb with Tiziana and we quickly swung leads.

Once we descended she looked at me and said, "you want to go over there, right?" referring to the beautiful slender drip I’d noticed that morning during the approach, a few meters to the right of the main drip. Tiziana immediately sensed that I wouldn't have minded testing its solidity and immediately my comatose state of mind transformed into euphoria. And that's how after climbing a WI3 we ended up making the first ascent of a truly spectacular and beautiful new icefall: Exo-ciuc!

As I whacked in the first ice axe into the slender drip Tiziana wished me, ironically: "Merry Christmas Enry" ... as if to say "good luck, it doesn’t sound great." Everything ran smoothly though and every inch gained was a pleasant surprise, all the way to the top. With a new icefall and great company, it simply couldn’t have been a better Christmas! Happy holidays to all.

Enrico Bonino

Thanks to the sponsors: Millet, Scarpa, Baroli Sport, Adidas
www.odyssee-montagne.it


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