Mello Boulder, the new guidebook

This latest offering marks a change in tune for bouldering in Valtellina, for Versante Sud's commitment to bouldering and the standards of future bouldering guidebooks in Italy.

Andrea Pavan has truly exceeded himself. The young climber from Como and member of the Ragni di Lecco alpine club has distilled all his climbing capacities and his in-depth knowledge of the raw material rock into this new guidebook. Andrea is a geologist and his scientific approach stems from years of studying and data surveys in the field. Although it’s hard not to hyperbole, I really think that this is what every hard-core boulderer has been waiting for.

Anybody can now come to Valtellina on their own and enjoy the vast array of boulders in Val Masino, Cimagrande and San Cassiano, to name but three, without needing to be "accompanied" by those in the know. This product removes doubts and uncertainties as to which boulder you're on or whether a problem has already been invented or not. And for a stranger to this area, believe me, this is not to be underestimated. The guidebook provides a great excuse to go to Valtellina armed with just chalk, shoes and crashpad and throw yourself headfirst into this immense open-air playground where much is still to be discovered.

The core of the guidebook is comprised of the Val Masino, an area which during the '70's the local 'Sassisti' boudlerers transformed into their very personal Yosemite Valley experience. More recently the Val Masino has shot to national and international fame with the annual Melloblocco, the great meeting for boulderers worldwide

Year in year out this event has managed to unearth areas previously considered completely developed or even completely forgotten about during the '90's. Thanks to the Melloblocco new areas and above all new problems of all shapes and sizes have been created. These include cutting-edge sends, highlighted in the guidebook with a crown for the hardest male and female problem.

The guidebook beings with the recently discovered San Cassiano in Val Chiavenna, then detours to the "ancient" Valbodengo and the boulders which speckle first Cimaganda then Presone, before homing in on those in above mentioned Valmasino delimited by Ponte del Baffo, Piana del Remenno, Bagni di Masino and Val di Mello. This long list of small great masterpieces concludes with the boudlers in Selvapiana, Spriana, Masso d’Arquino and Bormio.

The plus points of this guidebook are the precise descriptions of the areas (the location of each boulders is a true geological survey, almost a true geo reference), the photos of each problem, the descriptions and tasty anecdotes and the excellent price-quality relationship. All of this crunched into 352 colour pages; more than 2000 boulders climbed personally and described in detail, and no less than 1000 photos of the boulders with their lines of ascent.

In conclusion… absolutely not to be missed!

The guidebook will be presented to the public on Thursday 8 May at 21.00 on the first day of the MELLOBLOCCO 2008
www.melloblocco.it