Elias Iagnemma establishes Ten at Vado di Sole, hardest sport climb in Abruzzo

Elias Iagnemma is best known for his explosive power, put to best use last season when he won the Italian Boulder Cup 2018. Now the 23-year-old climber has traded crash pad for a harness and rope and freed a sport climb at the crag Vado di Sole which, if confirmed, checks in as the most difficult in the Abruzzo region and one of the hardest in Italy. The route is called Ten, is an extension to a route Iagnemma had freed last year, sports 28 moves in 18 meters. Iagnemma told planetmountain.com the following about this "perfect line".

TEN AT VADO DI SOLE by Elias Iagnemma

The route is called Ten and was a project up at Vado di Sole for almost 9 years. After numerous attempts I managed to free the lower section last summer and suggested 8c+. I then decided to try the upper half for the rest of the summer and after just as many sessions I managed to climb these moves. I knew therefore that it was feasible, the only thing that was missing now was linking the first 8c+ section to the second 8b+/ c.

This summer I felt on form, but the right conditions were really, really difficult to come by since the slab is located at an altitude of 1600 meters and the weather changes from one moment to the next. A few days ago I was on topo form and the conditions were ideal. Everything went smoothly and I manage the send!

As to the difficulties, seeing that I don’t have much experience with "lead" grades, I basically focused on grading the two boulder sections that make up the route; the first 12 moves are about 8A+/B, then there’s an ankle-killing rest followed by another 8A+. I reckon the combination of these two could mean something in the region of 9a/9a+ on a rope.

Elias thanks: SCARPA, Rockslave, Frictionlabs, Nutbrusher