Apuan Alps, Torri di Monzone, 'Towards the World

TOWARD THE WORLD (by R. Vigiani and P. Gianfranceschi)

A few years agoAfter the 'unjustified' closure of Solco D'Equi in the Apuane Alps, good and, above all, unexploited rock seemed to be in real short supply. Fortunately ...

... a group of climbers from the Lunigiana verticale school of mountaineering, led by Mauro Franceschini, instead of continuing to chatter and repeat the usual trained routes, opened their eyes and tried to continue the exploration of a few walls in the Vinca valley that the late Claudio Ratti had already begun years before. In just a few years and with a considerable team effort, Mauro's Band bolted, cleaned and, above all, popularised a considerable number of routes on the southern buttresses of Pizzo d'Uccello and on the walls of the so-called Torri di Monzone.

Le Monzon Tower (sounds more 'American'), in the beginning although they were very wide they were only exploited, except for a few routes opened by Ratti, in the right-hand shovel. The first historic route opened on the wall was by the Florentines Barbolini, Passaleva and C. and was called the 'via'.Sara". On this tower also called "Fiorentini Shovel"First Ratti and then Mauro's group successively established several routes of remarkable quality and length until they almost saturated all the available good rock. I took advantage of the completely overhanging left sector by opening the 'ciaociciu' route, which is still unclimbed and with rock that is a bit ''.Lavaredo"(I admit that it is not the most beautiful route I have climbed, but the spaced-out bolting and the dreaded last pitch play their part!). At this point it was only natural that attention would shift to the other towers. The first to try to open a new route on what would later become the Cathedral were Piero Gianfranceschi and Fabrizio Fratagnoli, who after several attempts reached about halfway up the wall. In the meantime, Davide Della Valle and I attacked the compact wall that passes to the right of Jungland (another route by Ratti) on the tower called "Il Balzone" and we took out what is for now the most challenging route of the towers "To the Bacchini eye"Good rock and sustained difficulty around 7a/b on the last three pitches and spaced bolting.

At this point as one might say in a joke,' Mauro saw the thieves in his house!" and so with his band he got back to work, even neglecting his beloved olive groves, so as not to have any more rock 'blown away' by his friends/clients. In a short time "Notre dame de Monzon', 'Children of the She-Wolf' and 'The Milky Way'. ; three routes that are not only beautiful but also reveal the evolution and experience gained by the group in terms of spaced bolting to be supplemented with the use of fast protections.

Among them Piero Gianfranceschi with my help he finally finishes his project which I will call  'Casa Vianello' . The close bolting, the good rock and the remarkable variety of the climbing will soon earn this route the nickname 'Classic' of the wall.

There was still a tower between the cathedral and the Florentine altarpiece protected by a vertical grassy base which did not even have a route yet. "The Campanile di Monzone", as it is called, seemed to give a single possibility of climbing without having to bother with ice axes to climb the grassy base.After a careful observation with binoculars, Piero and I found a line that, attacking on the right, allowed us to reach the base of the Campanile through a traverse of about 100 metres of excellent rock and to open the doors to the upper part of the tower, making it the longest route in the area, especially because of the long traverse that brought the total length to 320 metres plus another 50 metres of base where we placed a fixed rope to facilitate reaching the actual wall.

At this point I think that the exploration of the towers and the Vinca Valley in general is in full development and is open to those who have the desire and passion to do so, making this corner of the Apuan Alps one of the most important climbing centres in central Italy, with the utmost respect for nature and the local people.

(full report follows)

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" TOWARD THE WORLD"

1st ascent: Piero Gianfranceschi and Roberto Vigiani

September 2003

Development: 320 m + 50 m plinth

Difficulty: III ; S3 ; max 7a ; 6c obligatory

Nailing : spit fix 10mm

Material required: 12 quickdraws; 2 ropes of 60m obligatory for the descent.

In the opening, no additional protections beyond the bolts that are in place were used, although for those who do not master the difficulties easily, it is recommended to bring a set of nuts and a set of friends because some pitches present the possibility of supplementing fixed protections.

ACCESS:

As with the other towers, leave the car before the small wooden bridge just before the first hairpin bend leading to Vinca. Cross the bridge and follow the dirt road to its end (1 km) .

Cross the dry stream and take an uphill path on the other side. After about 50 metres a steep track to the left climbs directly uphill (this is the same track that leads to Monzone Cathedral, cairn), follow it until you come to an obvious steep scree slope. At about its destination, leave the obvious track leading to the cathedral and cross diagonally to the right (cairn).

Continue diagonally through the forest until you reach a ridge which you follow until you reach a large cairn. From here you descend slightly to the right and then, following the cairns, cut diagonally upwards, passing at the top of another scree slope, until you reach a fixed rope that leads to the gully that runs along the right-hand side of the Campanile.Here you will arrive with the abseils going downhill, so it is advisable to harness up and leave your rucksacks and an extra pair of shoes to pick up the ones you will leave at the start of the route (unless you want to walk 5 minutes with your shoes on).Follow the fixed rope (15m.) and skirting the wall enter the gully which soon leads to the start of the fixed rope marked by two large cairns. (30/40 minutes from the car)

Here you tie off and, with the help of the fixed rope, reach the belay from where the good rock finally starts (50 metres).

REPORT:

L1 : climb the first pitch more or less directly up some hinted dihedrines with nice technical climbing. spaced out pitons on 3/4 metres with the possibility of adding some mobile protection. 45m, 6b+

L2 traverse horizontally to the left for about 30 metres. piton spaced at 4 metres with the possibility of supplementing with friends. 30m, 6b+

L3 From the belay, descend left to the terrace with junipers and from here climb into the dihedral above and traverse to the first spit. Climb the blade above and continue traversing left in a gentle ascent to the belay. Spits can be 7/8 metres apart but it is possible to integrate nuts and friends. 30m, 6a

L4 climb a few metres above the belay and then traverse horizontally left to a slab which you climb directly up and again to the left to reach the belay (belay on the two bolts before the stainless steel chain, which is the most uncomfortable). 4/5 metre piton with little possibility of integration. 30m, 6a

L5 traverse left again passing the descent chain as the first quickdraw and then climb directly up a small dihedral with a difficult exit. traverse left to reach the belay. 4/5 metre bolting with little opportunity to integrate. 30 m, 6b L6 : climb directly above the belay over an overhanging wall and for exciting rock reach the belay on a step. piton spaced at 5/7 metres with little opportunity to supplement. 40 m, 7a.

L7 rise just above the belay and traverse to the right to a difficult spit (it is advisable to place a nut before turning the edge) with a difficult passage you reach an easy horizontal traverse that shortly leads to the belay. 25m, 6b+

L8 : Climb directly above the belay and with easy climbing (beware of the not yet perfectly cleared rock) reach the terrace at the base of the last pitch. Spaced nailing at 5/6 metres with the possibility of integration. 50m, 6a.L9 Climb the evident dihedral crack above the belay to its end and engage the overhanging slab above it to the easy steps leading to the last belay below the terminal roofs (if you want, you can also exit to the summit with an easy traverse to the left, but afterwards you have to climb down again). Nailing spaced out at 5/6 metres with little possibility of integration. 50 m, 6c

DISCESA:

The first two doubles should be done directly on the route, while the third is a direct 60m double off the route where it is necessary to pendulum the two bolts that have been placed especially for the descent (be careful not to lose the pendulum otherwise you will end up in the void and you will have to ascend with the prusic) to reach the abseiling chain that you encountered during the ascent. From here it is best to do two 30m abseils to avoid getting the ropes jammed, thus reaching the forest of the plinth. With a 30m abseil and a 40m abseil, you will finally reach the basal forest and shortly below you will arrive at the backpack.

Finally finished! It was harder to describe it than to climb it.

As a final note, I must congratulate Piero for the two pitches he opened as a leader I leave it to you to figure out what they are but I doubt you will!

Good climbing