Gran Sasso, new rock climb by Iannilli and D'Andrea

Between 29 and 30 August 2012 Roberto Iannilli and Luca D'Andrea made the first ascent of Compagni dai campi e dalle officine (330m, EX up to VI-, A4) on the East Face of  Corno Grande, Vetta Occidentale, Gran Sasso, Italy.
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Roberto Iannilli on pitch 3 of Compagni dai campi e dalle officine, Gran Sasso, Corno Grande, vetta Occidentale
Luca D'Andrea
Two attempts by Roberto Iannilli and Massimo Massimian unlocked the key to that smooth central slab up the East Face. And then... another month was needed to bring this new route to life up Corno Grande. Yet another Iannilli creation on Gran Sasso. And proof yet again that the driving love (obsession perhaps) hasn't gone amiss. This is the short story of Compagni dai campi e dalle officine, a 380m line of which 180 run completely autonomously, climbed in two days, big-wall style with a "comfortable" bivy on the ledge. The players in this grand finale were Iannilli (naturally) and Luca D'Andrea, EX is the grade they've put forward  (up to VI- and A4) with a supreme third aid pitch, i.e. an A4 which is "currently the most difficult of this sort in the entire mountain chain". The name Companions from the fields and factories, as Iannilli explains in his report, certainly didn't come about by chance...


COMPAGNI DAI CAMPI E DALLE OFFICINE by Roberto Iannilli

“Robbè! Up there, in the middle, is there no way through?”
Damn you Luca, couldn't you just keep your mouth shut?
"No, it's so smooth, the only way up would be with aid, and I mean complicated aid" I reply.
"Yeah, so what's the bid deal?"
Here we go again. Massimo, even you need to add your two cents?
But it's too late, I try to resist and then give in almost immediately.
"Well yes... There seems to be a thin chance up there, to the left."

Luca, Massimo and I stop at the Belvedere, the panoramic ledge beneath the East Face and we begin to check out the line, our next route. The studying phase has begun, the project, where you try to imagine, guess what lies in store and, almost always, get practically nothing right at all. Only one thing is certain: climbing up those yellow, slightly overhanging flaked slabs won't be easy.

This is how our adventure begins up the East Face of Corno Grande's western summit, an adventure which lasts a month, with two failed attempts and the two-day ascent with a bivy on the "comfortable" Prima Cengia, the first ledge. This is how Compagni dai campi e dalle officine comes into being - companions from the fields and factories - but also from the offices, hospitals, schools, houses, mountains... because the time has come that we take to the streets once again to ask for and obtain a real change. A change which must be, first and foremost, ours; it would be hypocritical to search for a class of politicians who are no longer legitimate if we ourselves don't change first.


TOPO: Compagni dai campi e dalle officine, Gran Sasso




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