Elias Iagnemma makes first ascent of 'The Big Slamm' (9A)

Elias Iagnemma has sent 9A again. After repeating Burden of Dreams in Finland in March 2024, the 29-year-old climber from Abruzzo, Italy, has now made the first ascent of what he has described as the King Line in Tintorale, the beautiful bouldering area close to L’Aquila where in 2022 he established the 8C+ problem Ganesh.

Iagnemma's latest creation is called The Big Slamm and is short and intense problem split into three sections: two hard intro moves, graded 8A in their own right, lead to the 8B/+ stand start. Iagnemma invested 35 sessions spread out over a year and a half, and often thought about "about throwing in the towel because I thought it was impossible to link all those extreme moves." In his words, it was "truly a crazy fight between conditions, mind and body."

After almost succeeding towards the end of 2024, Iagnemma has now secured his hardest first ascent to date. Needless to say, The Big Slamm is currently one of the very few 9A in the world.