Podenzoi, rock climbing in the hanging garden of Longarone. By Sandro Neri

Crag in German translates as Klettergarten, literally "climbing garden”, and this seems to me the most appropriate definition for Podenzoi. As you drive up from Longarone past the hairpin bends on the (now tarmac) road, the valley gradually opens up and the views sweep across more and more green, which is decidedly more pleasant than reconstructed Longarone...

Podenzoi was the third crag to be developed in this area, after Erto and subsequently Igne. The quest for discovery that motivated indefatigable Gigi Dal Pozzo convinced him that those vertical walls completely covered in ivy deserved his attention; what followed were several years of hard work after 1986, the year in which he bolted the first two climbs, Demian and Cesarino.

Back then we immediately realised that these would become hard routes (freed in the ‘90s at 8b and 8a+ respectively), Dal Pozzo though sensed that Podenzoi could become our first really technical crag, with its vertical walls and series of overlaps. At that time we’d climb on Parete dei Falchi at Sovèrzene, which offered a vast number of multi-pitch routes, many of which were technically demanding. An amenable crag with climbs on slabs and smooth vertical walls, one next to the other, didn’t exit though.

So that’s how Gigi destroyed his white Peugeot 309, driving up those bends dozens and dozens of times, along the dirt road up to Podenzoi, equipped with chainsaw, pickaxe, hoe and brushes of all shapes and sizes, even before taking his drill and bolts . I can vividly remember huge piles of ivy below the central sector Cara ti amo, Ti odio Mozambico, etc., and also below the sector on the right, called delle Acque (Acquasplash, Acquarium, etc.), because it gets seeps endlessly when it rains. In fact, the vegetation that covered the superb rock required plenty of hard work, not only to be removed but above all to be brushed clean of soil and lichen. Back then the sectors looked very different to how they appear nowadays: the crag was a full-blown building site, hence the name for one of the routes Lavori in corso, work in progress (which happens to be hard as nails!).

And speaking of giving those routes new names: inspired by precise footwork and crimped fingers Dal Pozzo used his great imagination (a quality he had in abundance ...) to give names to highly popular climbs that deserve some attention: Madame de gran fàll and Vibratore a pedali don’t need particular explanation, given our youthful, testosterone-filled bliss... Ti odio Mozambico (a highly popular 7b+ for the past 30 years) is dedicated to one of Gigi's friends who was deeply saddened at the time because his girlfriend had left him, fleeing to none other than Mozambique.

Cara ti Amo (the highly popular reference 7c) owes its name to the song made famous by Elio e le Storie Tese: Gigi intended to mock me, as I often had diametrically opposing views as those of my girlfriend (just like the text Cara ti amo), and endless quarrels that first caused perplexity, and then roaring laughter, among those at the crag...

Retromarcia violenta, violent reverse, is reminiscent of a mad car crash, which saw five of us stumble out of the car, miraculously unharmed, after a car crash hurled the car backwards against a pole (Gigi, myself and 3 others). Icio Dall'Omo also left his mark at Podenzoi, freeing and baptizing Franz von Gulash (8a), a splendid line which, unfortunately, quickly with mud (goulash ...) if it rains for a long time... The owner of Bye bye Iena prudently wishes to remain anonymous since its dedicated to his wife before going off climbing with some friends. I could go on and on ...

Dal Pozzo, and those who followed in his footsteps cleaning and bolting the easier sectors, made us happy by giving this cliff some life... the origins of the names of the climbs belong to the past, but testify a certain enthusiastic creativity, stemming from the true joy of Gigi's new gift to all climbers; Podenzoi owes the rest of its success due to the advent of A27 motorway, which in the following decades made access far easier not just for us locals from Belluno but also for droves of climbers from the Treviso and Venice region groups (to Podenzoi, as well as Erto, Igne and Casso).

At Podenzoi today, on warm weekends, at around 1:00 pm when the sun disappears leaving the east facing walls to enjoy the cool shade, it becomes difficult to find a place to park on the road below the short path that leads to the crag. The hanging garden above Longarone is teeming with climbers, many of them young, innocently ignorant of those who destroyed a car, wire brushes and picks to give us this little gem!

by Sandro Neri

TOPO: the crag Podenzoi, Longarone, Veneto

Info: climband.it