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Cornalba is and always will be Cornalba...

A short report about yesterday's climbs at Cornalba, the historic sports crag above Bergamo, Italy, which saw both Daniele Calegari and Tiziano Asperti repeat Feedback.

Planetmountain

December 2014

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Tiziano Asperti climbing Feedback 8b, Cornalba

Roberto Colonetti

Cornalba is and always will be Cornalba. This may sound obvious, but those who climb here regularly - and even those who’ve only been here on a lightening visit - know full-well what it means to climb here, up the smooth walls of this fantastic limestone mushroom high above Val Bremana in Northern Italy. It means delving into the past, retracing the rich history of sport climbing that began in the early '80’s with the likes of Bruno Tassi, Gianandrea Tiraboschi and Vito Amigoni. It also means climbing with an eye to the future, observing lines that have so far only be tentatively touched on or merely imagined. And it also means, since ever, quality climbing with great friends. All this comes across loud and clear from the following short report about two ascents of Feedback, a historic 8b freed by Simone Moro many moons ago that despite its age still manages to cause a stir. Yes, Cornalba is and always will be Cornalba.

Yesterday was a superb day at Cornalba in terms of the weather and turnout. Circa 50 climbers made their way to this beautiful crag and the day was marked by the repeat of Feedback by two talented climbers, Tiziano Asperti and Daniele Callegari.

Let’s begin with Tiziano’s ascent. As soon as we reached the crag Tiziano warmed-up on a 6a then checked out Feedback. He descended, set off immediately and missed it by a hair’s breadth… he lowered off, rested…. after 30 minutes the same story, this time though he made no mistakes and got the chain! What a superb, extremely quick repeat!

Next up was Daniele who, after Tiziano’s repeat, checked out the route. Today didn’t seem like it was going to be his day though and he fell off the hard move after the rest. Nevertheless he continued on up and reached the chain. Second go, same story. In the meantime others tried the route but the only repeat remained Tiziano’s. After having climbed some other routes, at 15:00 circa Daniele decided to give it one more go. Everyone gathered below to cheer him on, he set off a bit tense, reached the rest, recovered and managed the first boulder, reaching the second rest as the entire crag cheered him on, even though he said he was exhausted, but the chain was there, 3 metres higher. He continued, reached the undercling and last hard moves, stuck the edge and dynoed for the last hold… Daniele didn’t disappoint, the crowd went wild as he too sent the route!

Two repeats of Feedback on the same day… Tiziano and Daniele, great, Sunday, a day to be remembered. And who knows what Camos would have said up there. What a fantastic day. Cornalba is and always will be Cornalba

R.C.

TOPO: climbing at Cornalba