Stefano Ghisolfi: stay at home, it’s time to climb and let your imagination soar
This is a difficult moment for Italy and we are the only ones who can do something to stop the Coronavirus from spreading. We have to stop underestimating this crisis, thinking that we’re immune to the virus or that it’ll never reach where we’re living. Unfortunately the problem is far more serious than initially thought, and we must try to stop it now, for ourselves and for everyone else.
Sara (Sara Grippo, Ed) belongs to the at-risk category as she's immunosuppressed following her kidney transplant (on 2 February 2018, Ed). Falling ill could be life threatening, but all of us are at risk because hospitals and intensive care units are at brink of collapse.
We must do something now and the best thing we can do is stay at home. We have to make a concerted effort to see as few people as possible and follow all the guidelines we’ve been given carefully, not because they’ve been imposed on us but because we’ve understood how important they really are and accepted them for the greater good. It’s hard to stay at home if you’re a climber, the gyms are closed, perhaps it’s OK to go to the crag as long as they’re not too crowded, they’re close to home and you’re even more careful than normal. Because should an accident happen, this would just put the hospitals under even greater pressure at a moment when they’re teetering at their limit.
If you’ve got a fingerboard above your door for beauty’s sake (like I do), the time has come to use it! If you haven’t already seen Free Solo or Dawn Wall, or if you haven’t read the books by Jerry Moffatt and Ben Moon, the time has come to climb and let your imagination soar, and get your hands sweaty watching and reading them. The most important thing of all though is to avoid other people (this may sound bad at first, but it’s a great opportunity to spend more time with just yourselves and your close family).
by Stefano Ghisolfi