Monte Cimo action by Tondini & Sartori

Have you ever asked yourself how climbers forge a new sport climb from below? How difficult it is to choose where to climb, how to ascend with the drill, find the right place to weight a cliff and then place a bolt? And then set off once again, slowly upwards, following instinct and interpreting what the rock has to offer?

The short video clip below shows all of this and documents the autumn 2009 first ascent of a new route on Monte Cimo in the Brentino mountain range at the hands of the Italians Nicola Sartori and Nicola Tondini.

The new route is called Testa o Croce and it takes a line close to their 2007 testpiece 'Via di testa' and 'Vola Via'. Even though it hasn't been freed completely, word has it that it's extremely beautiful and varied, with a difficult overhang followed by technical slab climbing and a complicated boulder crux. Three of the pitches, opened ground-up, are within the 8a/8b mark.

We obviously hope to be able to provide you with the good news about their completed project soon, in the meantime enjoy this short clip filmed by Tommaso Deboni and Paola Finali and edited by Andrea Tosi of Mountain View production.

Nicola Tondini and Nicola Sartori in action on Monte Cimo.