Stefano Ghisolfi frees The Lonely Mountain, another 9b at Arco, Italy

There is no doubt that ever since Stefano Ghisolfi moved to Arco a few years ago with his partner Sara Grippo, he has become the driving force behind the hardest routes at the countless crags dotted around Lake Garda. After his repeats of One Slap at Laghel in 2017 and Queen Line at the same crag in 2019, at the start of 2021 he checked in with the first ascent of Erebor at Eremo di San Paolo. And now the 28-year-old has clinched his fourth 9b in the region with the first free ascent of The Lonely Mountain.

The route is located at the Eremo crag and is actually the original version of Erebor; Ghisolfi discarded the direct line as it seemed too difficult, placed a bolt and escaped out left to establish Erebor. He then returned to see if the original idea really was impossible or not. On Friday he got the answer he was looking for, thanks to a new sequences and a grade, 9b, "symbolic, even if it is harder than Erebor."

The first ascent caps a stellar year for Ghisolfi who in August made the first repeat of Bibliographie, Alexander Megos' masterpiece at Céüse in France for which the Italian suggested a downgrade to 9b+ instead of 9c as originally suggested by the German. While a month later he won the overall Lead World Cup 2021, becoming only the second athlete to take the Cup to Italy after Flavio Crespi in 2005.

Stefano Ghisolfi 9b or harder
11/2015 - Lapsus 9b, Andonno, Italy, first ascent
01/2017 - First Round, First Minute 9b, Margalef, Spain
11/2017 - One Slap 9b, Laghel, Arco
01/2018 - La Capella,9b, Siurana
12/2018 - Perfecto Mundo 9b+, Margalef, Spain
12/2019 - Stoking the Fire 9b, Santa Linya, Spain, first repeat
09/2020 - Change 9b+, Flatanger, Norway, first repeat
01/2021 - Erebor 9b/+, Eremo di San Paolo, Arco, first ascent
08/2021 - Bibliographie 9c, Céüse, first repeat
12/2021 - The Lonely Mountain 9b, Eremo di San Paolo, Arco, first ascent

Links: FB Stefano Ghisolfi, IG Stefano Ghisolfi, La Sportiva, CAMP