Another new climb up Punta Emma, Rosengarten, Dolomites

Punta Emma on Rosengarten in the Dolomites once again again. After reporting earlier this year about the new route Giupponi-Larcher put up by Luca Giupponi and Rolando Larcher, here's another new line that runs about ten meters to the left, Sto imparando a volare. Established at the start of August by Diego Mabboni and Mariapia Ghedina, the way this climb came about is interesting: Ghedina had spotted the line while repeating the Giupponi-Larcher, while Mabboni had noticed it last year while removing the edge of his Ora una stella sorride. In truth, Mabboni had initially noticed the "most beautiful line" on the wall, only to realise that it had just been taken by the Giupponi-Larcher.

Bearing this in mind, Mabboni said "In situations like there, you have to be very careful not to make a mess. My climbing partner and I studied the line carefully and it seemed to us that there was an unclimbed corridor to the left and parallel to the recently opened Giupponi-Larcher. And that's exactly how things were: a direct line was climbed, up very beautiful rock with increasing difficulties that peak at about 7c."

The pair ascended the route ground-up on 3 & 4 August with a mix of cams, threads, pegs and bolts; Mabboni established the first and third pitches, Ghedina the second, fourth and fifth. The result is a 230-meter journey with max difficulties estimated at around 7c+, and mandatory difficulty of 7b. The pair returned on 11 August for the first free ascent.

After the climb, Ghedina said, "Launching onto these pitches with skyhooks was a huge adventure for me, given that in the past I had only used them on much easier climbs. But on day two everything already felt a lot more "automatic" and the desire to continue forging the line made me forget about the fatigue! Sto imparando a volare, I'm learning to fly, is a way of reminding us that often the most difficult and frightening dreams turn out to be the most important."

Mabboni, who 20 years ago with Federico Cazzanelli had opened Ora una stella sorride on the arete between the black north face and the yellow east face, concluded, "Today the rules have changed, routes are bolted and made more accessible even if the technical difficulties have often increased significantly. The goal nowadays, at least mine, is to make routes where the risk is significantly reduced compared to those in the past. This is why I'm returning to some routes I established a while ago to do a bit of "restyling", in order to render the climbing a bit less unnerving."