San Liberale, the crag in Italy's Monte Grappa massif. By Marco Savio.

I think it was back in April 1986 when Mauro Corona bought, sculpted and gave me my first fingerboard. At that time, in his studio, he spoke about his "Vision", of how he managed to look beyond the initial appearance, see the sculpture that pulsated beneath. He said: my job is just about removing the superfluous!

The "usual suspects", Stefano and Momi Casarotto, Sergio Boato, Pol Murer (at the time known as Paolo Torresin) and Gianluca Bellin went to San Liberale for the first time in 1999 and discovered a huge wall of ivy... It was here that their vision came to life. They began to remove all the superfluous, to unearth the coveted face that lived below this green mantle. Days of hard work gave birth to this little piece of Frankenjura. A wall full of pockets, often a little sharp, that open this vertical dance with explosive moves and long reaches through the steep overhang that, when mastered without a fall, crown our strongmen egos. After removing more surplus vegetation, in 2000 the Pans Murer sector appeared, a rounded bulge with routes that are even shorter, almost boulders with a rope, that prove anything but trivial. Yet another climbing playground created and donated by this highly expereinced team of climbers.

I returned this year... after 10 years absence! As always memories accompany the climbing, once again based on long friendships. But my ego immediately clashed against these demanding, essential moves where my arms, grown accustomed to other anglese, refused to provide me with the necessary lightness and so I found myself constantly dangling on the rope. Out of curiosity, masochism I'd say, I tried the hardest pitch at the crag, Desolation Road. A route I'd first ascended 13 years ago, I think in just 4 attempts... This time though I couldn't climb the crux, in the sense that I couldn't even begin to understand how to send the sequence. Had a hold broken off? No. Bad conditions? No. Only tempus fugit... Slightly dejected by today but happy for yesterday I packed the rope into my rucksack and thanked life for having always made me feel alive, thanks also to the work and to the friendships that the element rock has always allowed me to share.

by Marco Savio


TOPO: San Liberale, Italy