Stefano Carnati sends Erebor (9b) at Arco, Italy

On Sunday 16 April 2023 the 24-year-old Italian climber Stefano Carnati managed to send his first 9b, Erebor at the Eremo di San Paolo in Arco, Italy. This is the first route bolted by Stefano Ghisolfi, freed by the man himself at the start of 2021, and subsequently repeated by Laura Rogora, Adam Ondra and Jakob Schubert. The proposed grade of 9b/+ settled down to 9b, and even though Schubert had made a mind-boggling repeat after just 4 days of attempts, Ondra believes it warrants a solid 9b.

Erebor marks a step up in Carnati's climbing after five 9a+: Goldrake at Cornalba in 2016, Biographie at Céüse in 2018, Demencia senil at Margalef in 2019, Jungle Boogie at Céüse in 2020 and La moustache qui Fache at Entraygues in 2022. Carnati spend smost of his time studying environmental sciences at the University of Insubria in Como, and the fact that he is a "weekend warrior", i.e. that he climbs outdoors predominantly on weekends, further underlines the talent and all the hard work carried out by Carnati over the years.

Carnati had started trying the route last November, on weekends, after a few reconnaissance laps the previous year when Ghisolfi completed the first ascent. The attempts were made with Luca Bana and Gabriele Moroni, two other Italian climbers who have talent in abundance and who are making excellent progress on this "great power endurance testpiece."

Carnati thanks CAMP, SCARPA, Rock Experience e Df Sport Specialist