MEDIA, CRIMPS AND COMPRESSIONS

The last weekend, a strong team of pullers came along for a few days to taste some of the finest lines we have to offer. The chief is a very very talented climber, solidly placed in the top 15 of National Bouldering League, and he was already here last year, when he tried the main lines he was seeking, i.e. "Ossezia", the 8a+ compression roof, and the recently dubbed "Il Primo dei Moicani". He sent both in his three days visit, confirming the suggested grades.

The immediate result, apart from happiness in seeing our boulders getting the attention they deserve, has been a very very big hype about these small, private areas where the big numbers lie.

After a winter of solitary trips, carrying four pads to try the roof on my own, after begging for spotters for "Out of Service", after cleaning "Ossezia"from one year's worth of cobwebs, now everyone wants to come down and score. I'm receiving phone calls even from people I don't know, or I haven't climbed with, and they all want to get the tick.

This is nice but not only nice. It shows also how selfish we are. It shows how easy is for this fast food mentality to spread also in bouldering. You go there, you get the beta from a local, and you send. Or at least you try to.

Anyway, this also shows how little credit some of us get from other climbers. It took a strong climber from another region to come here to start people's interest in our boulders, when for years everyone's judged them poor, not tall enough, not hard enough.

Believe me, they can be not tall enough, but they are hard enough.

A friend called me to ask me if it was true about these first repeats, and was curious to know whether the direct line under the roof had been sent, saying that is what he's interested in. Oh well, that's too easy buddy. You can't come along from nowhere and go straight to the buffet.

I had decided to take it easy on the roof project.

Now they got me a bit pissed.

I'll trow everything I've got to that problem and I'll send it and I'll send it so hard they can't even imagine.