Melloblocco 2007 facts and figures

Will you be there, too? The question is heard in the crags and bouldering spots, in the garage training boards and in the city gyms. Let’s all go to Melloblocco! The invitation surfs the web… No need for explanations. People know what they are talking about. Because Melloblocco is Melloblocco, fullstop.

Melloblocco is an appointment. Or if you want, a ritual with no written liturgy, an opportunity to meet and climb boulders, like we do together all year long. What counts is the beautiful spot and taking a week-end off to boulder and contemplate in Val di Mello, at the Melloblocco…

What can we expect for Melloblocco 2007? There will be “new boulder areas” in Val Masino and a change in the organisation which moves form the Lombardy Alpine Guide College to the Council of Valmasino. Meanwhile, let us have a look at the figures of the three past editions of the great meeting, starting with the number of pre-registrations for the forthcoming edition: over 300 today…
Info and pre-registration at: www.melloblocco.it


THE LADIES, GENTS AND NUMBERS OF MELLOBLOCCO®
by Nicolò Berzi, Nicola Noè, Michele Comi

There are so many names and numbers, giving rise to so many comments and considerations that the best thing to do is to list them all and invite you to carefully read them. Because they contain a little digest of the history of bouldering in Italy and not only Italy! At the recent official presentation of Melloblocco® 2007 at the International Tourism Exchange (BIT) Exhibition in Milan, dr Nicola Noè did not have enough time to go through all the figures related to this meeting, so we thought we would make them available to you all, boulders maniacs and curious amateurs included. And if you wish to enter this little part of history, come along on May 5th and 6th 2007 to the fourth edition of this legendary meeting, hoping the gods of the weather will assist us this year, too!

THE MOST LOYAL - the names of those who have taken part in all the three editions of Melloblocco® held so far
A first very interesting list is that of the “most loyal”, because among the 1610 boulderers registered in the three past editions, 88 have come all three years, while another 293 have collected 2 participations out of 3. Below, in alphabetical order, the names of “the most loyal”:

Massimo Acerbis, Stefano Alippi, Cristina Alvazzi, Nicola Anzoni, Omar Arzuffi, Enrico Baistrocchi, Giacomo Barberis, Davide Bencini, Andrea Berlese, Stefano Bertoro, Giancarlo Biglioli, Michele Bischer, Sebastiano Boschiero, Cristian Brenna, Fabio Bricalli, Nicola Bruseghini, Cristiano Caldara, Daniele Calegari, Mauro Calibani, Michele Caminati, Maura Canepa, Sergio Carrara, Paolo Cattaneo, Luca Cendou, Luigi Chiaberge, Rudy Colli, Richard Colombo, Giovanni Corbella, Nicoletta Costi, Raffaella Cottalorda, Paola Crasnich, Daniele Crescini, Massimiliano De Pelca, Giulio Della Torre, Marco Dialuce, Marco Dossi, Fabrizio Ferreri, Filippo Forgiarini, Aldo Frigo, Alessandro Gandolfo, Lorenzo Garavaglia, Emanuele Gerli, Giuseppe Gerolimetto, Matteo Giordano, Laura Giunta, Edoardo Grimaldi, Anthony Lamiche, Roberta Longo, Daniele Lupieri, Marco Macario, Paolo Mafezzini, Paolo Malvezzi, Michela Martignago, Carlo Maso, Graziano Meazza, Giovanni Molinari, Gabriele Moroni, Luca Mussi, Angelo Negri, Diego Neonati, Ildo Nicoli, Maurizio Oliva, Francesca Pasini, Luca Passini, Marina Pauli, Andrea Pavan, Glenda Pelosi, Francesco Piovesan , Michele Polin, Andrea Polo, Marco Pozzi, Giovanna Pozzoli, Dario Rota, Marco Ruffinoni, Paolo Santini, Gianluca Santoianni, Giordano Savegnago, Marco Savio, Francesco Spadea, Antonio Tabarin, Riccardo Tabarin, Daniele Tavola, Mirko Tosi, Massimo Valtorta, Stefano Vedovati, Pierluigi Vedovato, Michele Viano, Valter Vighetti.

THE STRONGEST – the names of the strongest who have taken part in the Melloblocco® and the lasting sign they have left in its history
Just as interesting is yet another list, that of the strongest, that is, the boulderers who have sent the hard, money-awarding problems. After name and surname, in brackets, is the number of editions they were present at. Here is the list of the hard boulders climbed by each of them:

Mauro Calibani (3): 13, Cristian Brenna (3): 11, Michele Caminati (3): 11, Tony Lamiche (3): 11, Gabriele Moroni (3): 10, Stefano Alippi (3): 10, Alessandro Gandolfo (3): 7, Walter Vighetti (3): 7, Andrew Earl (2): 7, Daniel Dulac (2): 7, Garreth Parry (2): 7, Guillame Glairon-Mondet (2): 7, Stefano Ghidini (2): 6, Andrea Polo (3): 5, Chris Sharma (1): 5, Enrico Baistrocchi (3): 4, Giovanni Corbella (3): 4, Luca Passini (3): 4, Gabriele Gorobey (2): 4, Andrei Chrastina (1): 4, Damiano Corà (2): 3, Francesco Spadea (2), 3, Nicolas Badia (2): 3, Percy Bishton (2): 3, Sebastien Boussogne (2): 3, Simone Riva (2): 3, Alberto Gnerro (1): 3, Brian Kim (1): 3, Christian Core (1): 3, Daniel Woods (1): 3, Jerome Meyer (1): 3, Marc Croxall (1): 3, Marcello Bruccini (1): 3, Michele Deicass (1): 3, Paolo Leoncini (1): 3, Riccardo Scarian (1): 3, Wolter Yungeneelen (1): 3

Stefania De Grandi (2): 7, Anita Manachino (2): 7, Raffaella Cottalorda (2): 5, Giulia Giammarco (2): 5, Giovanna Pozzoli (2): 5, Roberta Longo (2): 2, Sandrine Levet (1): 4, Melanie Son (1): 4, Maude Ansadè (1): 4, Maja Vidmar (1): 4, Katja Vidmar (1): 4, Claudia Battaglia (1): 4, Barbara Zangerl (1): 4, Anne Laure Chevrier (1): 4, Nina Arc (1): 3, Marine Largeron (1): 3, Amelie Delfino (1): 3, Mickaelle Policard (1): 2, Lucy Atkinson (1): 2, Liv Sansoz (1): 2

THE STRONG AND LOYAL – those who were present in the three editions and were as fit as to send at least one hard problem in each (2004, 2005 and 2006)

Only 11 athletes out of the 88 most loyal have sent at least one difficult bloc in each of the three editions:
Mauro Calibani; Cristian Brenna; Michele Caminati; Tony Lamiche; Gabriele Moroni; Stefano Alippi; Alessandro Gandolfo; Andrea Polo; Enrico Baistrocchi; Giovanni Corbella; Luca Passini
Only 19 athletes have climbed at least one hard bloc in two editions out of three:
Andrew Earl; Daniel Dulac; Garreth Parry; Guillaume Glairon-Mondet; Stefano Ghidini; Gabriele Gorobey; Damiano Corà; Francesco Spadea; Nicolas Badia; Percy Bishton; Sebastien Boussogne; Simone Riva; Edoardo Pedersini; Gianluca Bosetti; Giovanni Pezzullo; Marco "Papa" Gualtieri; Marzio Nardi; Riccardo Tabarin; Garcia Frigo
Only 6 women athletes have sent at least one hard bloc in two editions out of three:
Stefania De Grandi (7); Anita Manachino (7); Raffaella Cottalorda (5); Giulia Giammarco (5); Giovanna Pozzoli (5); Roberta Longo (2)


THE THREE EDITIONS IN DETAIL

MELLOBLOCCO 2004 – ORANGE T-SHIRTS
311 registered participants, 82,3% males and 17,7% females
Estimated number of people in the valley: 800
Special Guest in 2004: Dale Bard, legendary Yosemite Valley pioneer
17 foreigners (4,8%): France (8), US (3), Germany (2), Canada (1), Mexico (1) and Peru (1)

Who was there? There were many top-climbers, bouldering World Champions Christian Core and Mauro Calibani, as well as Chris Sharma and Dave Graham, worth together eight 8C bloc. And the Italian Cristian Brenna, Giulia Giammarco, Stefano Alippi, Stefania De Grandi, Marzio Nardi. Among the foreigners Liv Sansoz, Anthony Lamiche, Francois Lombard and Toni Lamprecht. With them, the young and promising Gabriele Moroni, Michele Caminati, Paolo Leoncini, Geo Progulakis, Damiano Corà and Alessandro Gandolfo.

At the end of the two days. 57 tops were reached on the hard blocs garrisoned by a judge, a member of the Alpine Guides Regional College of Lombardy. Twenty-four men reached at least one top, and more precisely (in brackets is the number of tops): Chris Sharma (5, 3 of which were flashed), Mauro Calibani (5, 2 of which flashed), Cristian Brenna (4), Stefano Alippi (4), Christian Core (3), Michele Caminati (3), Paolo Leoncini (3, 1 of which was flashed), Alessandro Gandolfo (2), Andrea Polo (2), Antony Lamiche (2), Damiano Corà (2), Gabriele Moroni (2), Marco Bortoletto (2), Enrico Baistrocchi (1), Geo Progulakis (1), Gianluigi Tonoli (1), Giovanni Corbella (1), Luca Parisse (1), Luca Passini (1), Marco Gualtieri (1), Marzio Nardi (1), Matteo Gambaro (1), Toni Lamprecht (1) and Walter Vighetti (1). Three women reached at least one top: Stefania De Grandi (3), Liv Sansoz (2, 1 of which was flashed) and Giulia Giammarco (1). One problem was left unsolved; its name speaks for itself, "Ul Mustru" (The Monster, in the local dialect)!

The grades of the “hard” boulders of Melloblocco® 2004? Judge them yourselves, based on the results of two days of assaults to the 10 money-awarding problems by no less than 500 boulderers:
boulders and ladies 2004: Il quadrifoglio: no one climbed it. El vuelo: no one climbed it. Skate board: Stefania De Grandi. Zero in condotta: Stefania De Grandi, Giulia Giammarco, Liv Sansoz. Brutalista: Liv Sansoz, Stefania De Grandi
boulders and gents 2005: M: Chris Sharma, Mauro Calibani, Gabriele Moroni. Melloblocco: Chris Sharma, Mauro Calibani, Cristian Brenna, Stefano Alippi, Christian Core, Luca Parisse. Non rompete l’uovo: Chris Sharma, Mauro Calibani, Cristian Brenna, Stefano Alippi, Michele Caminati, Paolo Leoncini, Andrea Polo, Antony Lamiche. Vascelli Vagabondi: Chris Sharma, Mauro Calibani, Cristian Brenna, Stefano Alippi, Christian Core, Michele Caminati, Paolo Leoncini, Alessandro Gandolfo, Antony Lamiche, Damiano Corà, Gabriele Moroni, Marco Bortoletto, Geo Progulakis, Gianluigi Tonoli, Giovanni Corbella, Luca Passini, Marco Gualtieri, Marzio Nardi, Matteo Gambero, Toni Lamprecht, Walter Vighetti. La forchetta: Chris Sharma, Mauro Calibani, Cristian Brenna, Stefano Alippi, Christian Core, Michele Caminati, Paolo Leoncini, Alessandro Gandolfo, Andrea Polo, Damiano Corà, Marco Bortoletto, Enrico Baistrocchi. Ul Mustru: no one climbed it.

MELLOBLOCCO 2005 – YELLOW T-SHIRTS
822 registered participants, 48% of them were born in the70ies, 33% in the 80ies and 16% in the 60ies, the remaining were born (little) earlier and later
Estimated number of people in the valley: 2000
Special guest 2005: Beat Kammerlander (photographer)
22 foreign countries participated with 109 athletes (13,3%): Argentina (1), Australia (1), Austria (9), Belgium (2), Brazil (1), the Philippines (1), France (37), Germany (4), Great Britain (11), India (1), Norway (1), the Netherlands (10), Czech Republic (1), Rumania (1), Serbia (1), Slovakia (4), Slovenia (4), Spain (5), the US (3), Sweden (1), Switzerland (9) and Venezuela (1).

Who was there? "There are the myths, those you have only seen in photographs. And there are those who are a myth because it is unbelievable that they can solve the problems you (30 kilos lighter and 10 years younger, with much more experience) cannot even understand" (Vinicio Stefanello). Just go through the list of those who have sent the “hard” boulders of 2005 to find the world of international boulder quite complete:

boulders and ladies 2005: Ti spalmo di miele: Anita Manachino (flash), Claudia Battaglia, Giulia Giammarco (flash), Giovanna Pozzoli, Stefania De Grandi, Maud Ansadè (flash), Amelie Delfino (flash), Lucy Atkinson, Melanie Son, Nina Arc, Roberta Longo, Sandrine Levet (flash), Maja Vidmar, Katja Vidmar (flash), Raffaella Cottalorda, Anne Laure Chevrier (flash), Mickaelle Policard, Lea Deslandes, Marine Largeron. Devil and dust: Raffaella Cottalorda, Maud Ansadè (flash), Giulia Giammarco (flash), Stefania De Grandi (flash), Giovanna Pozzoli (flash), Mèlanie Son (flash), Maja Vidmar, Anne Laure Chevriere, Sandrine Levet (flash), Claudia Battaglia, Anita Manachino, Katja Vidmar, Amelie Delfino. Moby Dick: Mèlanie Son, Lucy Atkinson, Amelie Delfino, Nina Arch, Maya Vidmar (flash), Katya Vidmar, Maud Ansadè (flash), Giulia Giammarco (flash), Giovanna Pozzoli, Anita Manachino, Stefania De Grandi, Mickaelle Policard, Anne Laure Chevrier, Raffaella Cottalorda, Claudia Battaglia, Sandrine Levet, Marine Largeron. A.m.M.: Maude Ansadè (flash), Anne Laure Chevrier, Marine Largeron, Sandrine Levet, Anita Manachino (flash), Giulia Giammarco (flash), Stefania De Grandi, Melanine Son, Giovanna Pozzoli, Claudia Battaglia, Maya Vidmar, Katya Vidmar, Nina Arch

boulders and gents 2005: Antropos: no one reached its top; Dartk Vader: Daniel Dulac; L’elefante marino: Guillaume Glairon-Mondet; Nel Bianco: Stefano Alippi, Gabriele Moroni, Cristian Brenna, Marcello Braccini, Wolter Yungeneelen, Riccardo Scarian, Tony Lamiche, Walter Vighetti, Michele Caminati, Jerome Meyer, Garret Parry. Piatto freddo: Stefano Ghidini (flash), Wolter Yungeneelen, Daniel Dulac, Marc Croxal, Garreth Parrot, Percy Bishton, Ricki Colombo, Daniele Tavola, Fabio Basilico, Giuseppe Marzorati, Andrea De Martini, Marco Gualtieri, Jesse Vander Werf, Stefano Finocchi, Alessio Dal Pos, Milton Pauletto, Paolo Bertolotto, Nicolas Badia, Nicolas Nastorg, Michele Caminati, Remi Samyn, Stefano Alippi, Andrea Polo, Michael Fuselier, Tony Lamprecht, Matteo Bresciani, Benjamin Ibri, Walter Vighetti, Guillaume Glairon-Mondet, Luca Passini, Riccardo Tabarini, Giovanni Pezzullo, Simone Riva, Gabriele Moroni (flash), Mauro Calibani (flash), Cristian Brenna, Davide Morresi (flash), Marcello Braccini, Alessandro Gandolfo, Andrew Earl, Luca Gatti (flash), Enrico Baistrocchi, Arci Vernarin, Luigi Tonoli, Pietro Tonoli, Marzio Nardi, Filippo Farolfi (flash), Riccardo Scarian (flash), Stefano Orlandi, Romain Pagnoux, Daniele Buco, Nicola Bruseghini, Angelo Negri, Damiano Corà, Oscar Amici, Edoardo Pedersini, Gabriele Gorobey, Giovanni Corbella, Fulvio Pippo Donati, Gianluca Borsetti, Luca Giammarco, Igor Simoni, Tony Lamiche (flash), Jerome Meyer, Manuele Manini, Tomas Stejskal, Elio Cacchio, Mira Mach, Jan Smolen, Garcia Frigo. Il grande yoghurt: Said Belhaj, Nicola Bruseghini, Stefano Ghidini (flash), Arci Varnerin, Daniel Dulac, Loic Gaidoz, Andrew Earl, Sebastien Boussogne, Garreth Parry, Wolter Yungeneelen (flash), Mark Croxal, Riccardo Scarian (flash), Matteo Bresciani, Stefan Julien (flash), Chris Huber, Walter Vighetti, Ricki Colombo, Gabriele Moroni, Andrea Polo, Jesse Vander Werf, Patricio Munari, Giovanni Pezzullo, Michele Caminati, Andrea De Martini, Luca Passini, Emanuel Moosburger, Remo Sommer, Alessandro Gandolfo, Roberto Fantozzi, Francesco Spadea (flash), Guillaume Glairon-Mondet, Luigi Tonoli (flash), Stefano Alippi, Cristian Brenna (flash), Tony Lamprecht, Mauro Calibani (flash), Enrico Baistrocchi, Tomas Stajshal, Marcello Braccini, Giovanni Corbella, Remi Samyn, Oscar Amici, Nicolas Badia, Elio Cacchio, Percy Bishton, Romain Pagnoux, Luca Giammarco, Daniele Tavola, Alessandro Sorato, Tony Lamiche (flash), Jerome Meyer.

The secrets of the 2005 success:
Seeing beginners and world champions such as Sandrine Levet, Daniel Dulac and Mauro Calibani climb together. Simone Pedeferri prepared something like 300 boulder lines. The special kindness of the shuttle drivers. The ticket collector who finds out that “those forgotten mattresses” are worth 200 euro. The colourful tents in the camp-site. The girl who came on her Vespa scooter all the way from Pietra di Bismantova (400 km away). Over 1000 two-legged crash pads crossing the bridge over the Mello stream. The little French boy who is the only one to get to the top of Elefante Marino. The crowd around Truffaldini per Pulci. Many athletes miss the prize-awarding ceremony to go on bouldering. The game of cards on the meadow at the foot of the boulder. Sandrine Levet spotted by 100 open arms. The geek who falls into no open arms. The crash pad which is moved away while you are falling off the boulder. The twin-crash pad of a couple from Trento. The loads of people who are strong, far too strong; the very few who – luckily – are not a bit strong. Those who jump off the boulders like dolphins and those who fall like huge tuna fishes. The Englishman who has never tasted pizzoccheri before. The friends we all have met again.

MELLOBLOCCO 2006 – LIGHT-BLUE T-SHIRTS
953 registered participants, 740 males and 213 females (22,3%)
Estimated number of people in the valley: 2500
Special guest 2006: Jacky Godoffe as boulder-setter supervisor
182 foreign participants (19,1%) from 27 countries: France (25), Great Britain (23), Germany (19), Austria (15), Spain (13), Switzerland (13), Czech Republic (10), the US (10), Belgium (9), the Netherlands (7), Poland (5), Argentina (4), Slovakia (4), Australia (3), Japan (3), Lithuania (3), Rumania (3), Mexico (2), Portugal (2), Venezuela (2), Brazil (1), Korea (1), the Philippines (1), Libya (1), Peru (1), South Africa (1), Hungary (1) .

boulders and ladies 2006: Il Profeta: Anita Manachino, Audrey Seguy (flash), Roberta Longo, Giovanna Pozzoli (flash), Marina Pauli, Barbara Zangerl (flash), Raffaella Cottalorda, Irene Bariani, Glenda Pelosi, Viviana Vitofrancesco, Milena Bergna, Barbara Belloro (flash). Bisex: Barbara Zangerl. Pulivapor: Anita Manachino, Barbara Zangerl. L’orto: Raffaella Cottalorda (flash), Barbara Zangerl (flash), Anita Manachino
Boulders and gents 2006: Figli dell’Aprica: Tony Lamiche, Daniel Dulac, Mauro Calibani. Belloblocco: Andrew Earl, Michele Caminati, Gabriele Moroni, Mauro Calibani, Tony Lamiche. Il Magistrato: Andrew Earl, Stefano Ghidini, Gareth Parry, Tony Lamiche (flash), Daniel Woods, Gabriele Moroni, Cristian Brenna, Alessandro Gandolfo, Alberto Gnerro, Mauro Calibani, Stefano Alippi, Walter Vighetti, Korbinian Kreilinger, Andrea Varnerin, Michele Caminati, Andrei Chrastina, Thomas Stejskal, Brian Kim, Guillame Glairon-Mondet, Hiroshi Okano, Gabriele Gorobey, Michele Deicass, Marc Croxall, Simone Riva, Daniel Dulac. I Gemelli: Michele Caminati, Hiroschi Okano, Tony Lamiche, Gabriele Moroni, Andrew Earl, Gareth Parry, Marc Croxall, Alessandro Catalano, Andrei Chrastina, Stefano Ghidini, Alessandro Gandolfo, Cristian Brenna, Brian Kim, Guillame Glairon-Mondet, Mauro Calibani. Rosso Reale: Francesco Spadea, Enrico Baistrocchi, Enrico Polo, Daniel Woods (flash), Tony Lamiche, Guillame Glairon-Mondet (flash), Sebastien Boussogne, Antoine Vandeputte, Gabriele Moroni, Mauro Calibani, Alberto Gnerro, Stefano Alippi, Gabriele Gorobey, Cristian Brenna, Stefano Ghidini, Walter Vighetti, Michele Caminati, Garry Parrete, Andrei Chrastina, Daniel Dulac, Andrew Earl, Michele Deicass. Bisex: Andrew Earl, Gabriele Moroni, Nicola Anzoni, Daniel Woods, Lucas Preti, Nicolas Badia, Alessandro Gandolfo, Gabriele Gorobey, Tony Lamiche (flash), Edoardo Pedersini, Daniel Dulac, Aurelien Proaubert, Guillame Glairon-Mondet, Sebastien Boussogne, Mauro Calibani (flash), Alberto Gnerro (flash), Stefano Alippi, Cristian Brenna, Daniele Tavola (flash), Korbinian Kreilinger (flash), Walter Vighetti (flash), Paolo Santini, Stefano Ghidini, Jiri’ Pribil, Simone Riva (flash), Alessandro Catalano, Andrei Chrastina, Milan Rehak, Micaal Smrz, Tim Hatch, Riccardo Caprasecca, Luca Passini, Francesco Spadea, Edoardo Grimaldi, Marco Dossi, Riccardo Tabarin, Giovanni Corbella, Enrico Polo, Gareth Parry, Marc Croxall, Andrea Polo, Michele Deicass (flash), Gianluca Bosetti, Michele Caminati, Garcia Frigo, Brian Kim, Kuba Jodtowski, Flavio Bortoli, Giovanni Quirici, Percy Bishton

MELLOBLOCCO 2007 – COLOUR OF T-SHIRTS... still to be decided…
Registered participants: wait and see!
Pre-registered participants: over 300 already
There will be new boulder areas in Val Masino; the organisation is handed over from the Lombardy Alpine Guide College to the Town Council of Valmasino.