Presolana, first winter ascents of Via Paco and Via Bosio

After having celebrated the 40th anniversary of Direttissima just a few weeks ago, the time came to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Via Bosio and the 20th of Via Paco on the North Face of Presolana. According to local expert Maurizio Panseri, the ascent worth underlining is the first winter ascent of Via Paco, established by Simone Moro, difficult to protect and with little in-situ gear, climbed free by Daniele Natali with difficulties up to 7b. With this recent ascent the North Face has been breached five times in winter, as on 27 December Tito Arosio and Saro Costa made the first winter ascent of the Dalla Longa brothers route on Presolana Orientale, while on 25 and 26 February Arosio, Fulvio Zanetti and Mauro Gibellini climbed Via GAN on Presolana di Castione; this is only the second winter ascent of this route, after the first ascentionists Ennio Spiranelli, Gigi Rota and Marco Birolini climbed the line in February 1990. The short report published below was written by Panseri about via Paco, while for details about Via Bosio - and a great selection of other photos - check out vertical-orme.blogspot.it.


VIA PACO - FIRST WINTER ASCENT
At the start of the month I really enjoyed myself with Daniele and Ale. Those two days spent on the Via Direttissima overbearingly awoke my desire to continue playing on the north face. Daniele was on great form and the weather forecast was good for the next couple of days. Desires turned into words and words translated into action. Daniele organised to walk up to Rifugio Albani to attempt Via Paco the next day. Thursday 15 and Friday 16 March were to be the ones. I was disappointed, I wouldn't be able to accompany him on what would have been a great jumar journey. So who would tie in with Daniele? This winter a young alpinist from Bergamo had carried out the first winter ascent of the route by the brothers Dalla Longa on 27 December, and then on 25 and 26 February the second winter ascent of Via Gan on the north face of Presolana di Castione: the climber's name is Tito Arosio. They shared the same rope for the first time on Friday 16 March and carried out the first winter ascent of Via Paco and, in doing so, celebrated the 20th anniversary of this line established by Simone Moro with very few bolts. Daniele climbed all the hardest pitches free. For those who don't know this route, it's worth noting that the crux 7b pitch is 35 metres long, protected by a mere three bolts and two threads, while the next pitch is 7a and even less protected that the former and getting to the first bolt is a long journey. After the fifth pitch Daniele let Tito take over the lead, the difficulties eased up but the pro didn't increase, you need to climb up to 6b+ with frightening run-outs. When the reached the Bendotti ledge the two abseiled off the route.

by Maurizio Panseri


Editor's note: this article was originally published in Italian on 21/03/2012.