Gabriele Moroni frees Sid Lives 9a at Nago (Arco)

Strong German climber Markus Bock thrust Nago into the limelight in 2013 when, on a visit with his family, he bolted some lines on the gigantic boulder close to the first sector, giving birth to routes up to 8c+. Short, intense, natural and above all tough as nails, all of a sudden Nago was back on the elite’s agenda.

One of those who answered the call was Gabriele Moroni who repeated a handful of routes and then bolted his own line to the right of Buckin' Bronco; this got the nickname Hubble Project given its similarity to the Ben Moon’s famous Hubble at Raven Tor in England. The project proved too difficult however and was soon forgotten about, until Stefano Ghisolfi laid his hands on it in spring and managed to work out the individual moves.

Moroni returned a fortnight ago and after having worked out the sequence started his redpoint attempts on Sunday last, falling off the second boulder crux. On Thursday he pulled off the free ascent on his third attempt of the day, calling the new route Sid Lives.

"The route is super compressed" explains the 28-year-old climber Novara "the crux is all in the first 10 moves, 8B boulder circa, followed by a second section, slightly easier but nevertheless precarious with 7B/7B+ moves." Moroni has suggested 9a for the 20-move outing up the 40° overhang.

For the record, the next day the Italian climber made the first repeat of a new 8c+, currently with no name but freed by Bock in spring at the same crag.