From Noia to Lapsus at Andonno in Italy. By Severino Scassa

PASSING THE BATON AT ANDONNO by Severino Scassa

It’s a nice passing of the baton, from Italy’s first 8c+ Noia to Italy’s first 9b Lapsus. A passing of the baton between climbers from Asti and Turin. Both born in the Piedmont region. Both intrinsically linked to rocks, the outdoors, the colors that frame our vertical past and Italy’s sport climbing history.

With Lapsus Stefano Ghisolfi has added another page to this history and he did so on the same rock, at the very same crag Andonno where twenty-two years ago, on 14 February 1993, I almost unwittingly climbed Italy’s first 8c+. Noia. Unwittingly, yes. So much so that I suggested the grade 8c. I’d only needed a few attempts to send the crux moves on the traverse that link Noi 8b+ to Cobra 8b. At the time I’d only redpointed one 8c, Le Plafond at Volx in France in 1992. And I’d done it in a day, on my fourth attempt! An explosive route, where the grade was determined by a short sequence of intense moves.

Noia was a complete revolution within the eighth grade universe because, back in those days, there were no pure resistance routes this hard. The reference routes were short and bouldery, from Action Directe, Wolfgang Güllich’s 9a in the Frankenjura to Le Plafond, the 8c freed by Ben Moon in the Provence, to Moon’s Hubble 8c+ at Raven Tor in England and Agincourt at Buoux, France’s first 8c freed once again by Ben Moon. These were the routes we measured ourselves against. But Noia, this exhaustingly intense ninety move outing, was a completely different kettle of fish for the forearms and brain.

Stefano’s project immediately impressed me and quite rightly so. Imagining and linking routes located close to each other, without needing to add a single bolt, is an art. The art of reading rock in all its nuances, an art of reading lines that, as they progress vertically, cut horizontally across the face. This is how Noia came to life and this is how Lapsus has now seen the light of day. A spectacular traverse that connects Noia to Anaconda, the 8c I freed in March 2007. Watching Stefano climb this visionary line one perfect autumn afternoon was truly beautiful.

I am proud that my Noia has inspired an athlete like Stefano, who has dedicated days, effort and passion to this project. I am proud that the history of Andonno has a new milestone. Perhaps I’m proud because Andonno, for me, will always represent home. It is here that I invested my love for climbing during the most intense years, I trained on these routes, it’s on this rock that I started bolting new climbs and looking ever upwards.


02/11/2015 - Stefano Ghisolfi frees Lapsus at Andonno, Italy's first 9b sports climb
Today at Andonno (NW Italy) Stefano Ghisolfi made the first ascent of Lapsus, the hardest sports climb in Italy and the first route in the country to be graded 9b.