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Gallo George, new Dolomite climb up Muraglia di Giau by the Sterni family

Gallo George (240m, 5+) is the route the Sterni family (Marco, Paolo, Serena) established up Torrione della Muraglia di Giau (Lastoni di Formin, Croda da Lago, Dolomites) in 2012.

Planetmountain

July 2013

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The route line of Gallo George, Muraglia del Giau, Lastoni di Formin, Dolomites

archivio Sterni

A climbing partnership has never been more a family than this one. Marco Sterni is the father. Paolo, the son, is ten years old. And then there's mother Serena who, like all mothers and wives, has her hands full of things to do with this partnership. Together the trio made the first ascent of Gallo George (240m, 5+) up the Giau peak in the Dolomites. A route that Marco describes as being perfect, well worth repeating, especially when the weather is uncertain. Marco's established a fair few routes in the past ;-) but he doesn't mention that this was a special moment for him. But we can imagine that it was from the words of Paolo's diary who explains, amongst other things, the reason for the name of the route.

GALLO GEORGE by Paolo Sterni (born 2003)

One day we went to climb Nikibi up the Marcella tower. During the descent I noticed an arete which could be climbed. So I asked my father to check it out and one day we went to examine the start, but it wasn't as easy as I'd thought because we got stuck in the woods, among the branches, shrubs, pines, rhododendrons and what not.

When we reached the scree slope I got a big headache and we had to stop for a drink of water. At that point my father had already continued on up and he shouted down "come here, there is a plaque with a lion." When we descended to do some shopping at Cortina we discovered that the plaque marked the Muraglia di Giau, the Great Wall of Giau.

August arrived three days later and like every year we went camping in Cortina, but this time I prepared some gear to bolt the route: drill, bolts, cordlets, cliff hooks, friends and more.

We reached the base of the route early morning in less than an hour. The first pitch was great. The second pitch led us to a large wedged boulder at the base of an overhang, steep but with big pockets. At the end of the route I started to die of thirst and my mother passed me something to drink. At the top there was a large cross and we took some photos.

The route is called "Gallo George", cockerel George, because there's crest up high.

TOPO: Gallo George - Muraglia di Giau