Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, Sasso Rosso Wall, 'There's little to laugh about'.
Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, Sasso Rosso Wall
Via 'There's Little to Laugh About
Roberto Vigiani, Luisa Siliani - 2009
Opened from below in 7 hours and 'onsight' on 08/09/2009
Development260 metres
Difficulty Max.: 7a, R3
Obligatory difficulty: 6c+
Material used:
- a complete Camalot series up to 3 including micro and small tricams
- a series of BD Stoppers including micro
- all used pitons and belays were left
THERE IS LITTLE TO LAUGH ABOUT
Perhaps someone seeing so many of my open routes at close fixes will have exclaimed 'the Vigiani is getting old', in fact age always brings wisdom and induces one to take fewer and fewer risks, especially when one has a family and feels responsible towards them. Actually, thinking about it, I have always been cautious even in my youth, but an innate and necessary exploratory streak within me has always led me to get into dangerous situations where I have had to bring out all my experience and skills to get to the bottom of them.
This has happened on some of my alpine routes, especially in the Apuane Alps, where the use of a few bolts has only weakened the risk present on them. At ApuanikaAt Monte Bardaiano, for example, I had set out with the intention of not using bolts. After I had already risked beyond my limits on the first three pitches on the fourth, before not telling the story any more, I gave in to the compromise of using them at least where the rock did not receive any alternative protection. I reached the ideal in trad style in Sardinia on Punta Cusidore in 2004, where with Larcher and Oviglia we opened "Merchants of Chatter'.700m climbed on sight, 200m of which were 7a, all protected with friends and nuts and placing a few pitons almost exclusively at the belays. Finding lines that have not yet been climbed so logically and with perfect rock in our area is almost impossible, but during one of my repeats with clients of the Fiorentini route at Sasso Rosso I had noticed on the left an evident system of dihedral cracks that promised good classic climbing. So I decided to go and have a look, and despite the fact that there was already a bolted attempt and an old route opened by I don't know who, I managed to come up with a logical and independent route that follows a series of dihedral cracks linked by some quite challenging slab sections.
"It's no laughing matter" does not reach Olympic grades and on the last two pitches we escaped a little to the left on the easy because it was too late (we'll be back to complete it!) but the effort in placing the mobile protections and the numerous unstable blocks in the upper part of the route demand a maximum level of attention. The pitons used are all left on the wall and friends and nuts are sufficient for the rest. Despite this the obligatory sections are demanding and delicate and require the rope leader to master the 7a on sight with distant and in some cases difficult to place protections.
In the future, I think I will return to clean the route to make it safer and straighten it at the top. In the meantime, if any fearless mountaineer who loves trad and strong emotions would like to venture out to repeat it, here is the report....to be continued!
Roberto Vigiani
Access:
From Castelnuovo Garfagnana take the road to Passo delle Radici, pass Castiglione Garfagnana and Cerageto. Shortly afterwards, still on the road to the pass on the left, take the turnoff for Sassorosso, which soon leads to a large clearing near a small football field (small house with table). Park and descend along a track just behind the car park towards some evident grey slabs on the right (single pegged walls with evident grey smears left by the bolts). Just before reaching the bolted wall, a path descends to the left into the wood and with hairpin bends leads into the gully at the base of the Sassorosso wall.
When you arrive in the channel at the end of the path, climb up briefly under the wall and shortly alongside it to reach the start of the route.
Report:
L1 : Attack a little to the left of the bolted attempt on a slab (about 50 m but to the left of the Fiorentini route) along an evident dihedral crack. Climb for about ten metres and traverse to the right under the overhang along a dulfer crack, follow it until it straightens out and continue along it with interlocking fingers and dulfer until traversing to the right to a belay in an evident grotto. (left one piton, the rest can be protected with friends and nuts but with a difficult obligatory section).
L2: climb above the belay and take an overhanging and impressive crack dihedral, which is actually very climbable up to its end (friends) just outside a nice piton protects a traverse on a slab to the right and with another 15 m on an open wall to be protected, you arrive at the belay.
L3 : climb the easy pillar to the common belay with the old route (unstable blocks at the exit)
L4 : In the dihedral above the belay the old route climbs (pitons) while the crack just to the right is the one you should follow. After about 15 m a good piton protects the exposed slab traverse with adhering feet (obligatory) and via open wall reach the belay.
L5 : above the belay directly up a difficult wall with a few obligatory passages protected by pitons, overcome an overhang and continue along a difficult flared dihedral with rock to be checked up to the belay (two pitons + yellow camalot).
L6 : from the belay directly up the crack dihedral above at the beginning mossy and with unstable blocks (we didn't have time to clean it) and at its end exit to the right (unstable blocks) and then traverse to the left by ramp to the belay tree.
L7 and L8 : Climb first to the left and then to the right over small rocks with the possibility of protection in the trees until you reach the ridge that leads to the summit forest. A short traverse to the left takes you down to the car park.
PLEASE NOTE: The grades were given by Roberto, who in recent years is as fit as I have ever seen him, and are to be taken as indicative. The 7a max is definitely 7a or perhaps 7a+, but not beyond. Eventual repeaters are advised or rather recommended to fully master the 7a onsight (i.e. VIII+ UIAA grade) and to have some familiarity in the use of flying protections given the distance between the various (few) points on the wall in the more difficult pitches.
Staying on the subject of protection, who has the Alien or use Aliens (much better than Camalots, you can find them at RVBSport in Sarzana) can take the complete series + Red, Blue and Yellow BD which are unobtainable Alien sizes, I don't even know if they exist.
To all, enjoy. Toni Lonobile
