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| My strongpoint is my endurance. Other Italians such as Cristian Core, Luca Zardini and Mauro Calibani are far more powerful than me. From what I've seen the Italians are incredibly strong compared to other climbers, but they lack competition experience. I've always been very serious when it comes to climbing, always very methodical and I've always trained hard. I started in 1988 using a pull-up bar, then in 1991 we built a wooden board to train on. I didn't manage to organise a real training method until '95. I used to go to the wall 3 times a week to work on my endurance. I kept a record of everything I did: every evening I repeated the same circuits, doing 500-600 moves for 5 years. I never bouldered, occasionally I worked out using a pull-up bar. Then one day a friend of mine, Marzio Nardi, gave me a training plan… tables, weeks of high intensity bouldering, followed by rest weeks, then endurance training, power training etc. The results then started to appear. What really helped me was climbing on rock because my technique was my weakpoint. It didn't improve on the wall and climbing outside at the weekend just wasn't enough. It wasn't that important for the crag, but more for competitions, because the holds are obligatory and so you have to be that bit better. |
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| Climbing Public Enemy 8b Cuenca photo Federica Balteri |
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| "I think I'm the only Italian who's won a World Cup event (Courmayeur 1998) and who's also placed last in the Italian Cup (1990)!" I started to compete in 1989 in Turin. I placed 27th and I remember that there were three routes to be flashed, so you had a couple of goes. At that time there were no alternatives to this formula: either you competed on a national level, or you didn't compete at all. Regional comps didn't exist and neither did ones for amateurs. At Trento in 1990 the competition consisted of a single on-sight route and I placed 15th - so my results were encouraging right from the start. Competitions are stressful, but I like that. Being in isolation takes ages though. You feel the pressure less when you go just to gain experience. But when you go to get a good result, the wait never ends! |
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 Vienna '99 - Semi-final photo Leonardo Di Marino |
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Perhaps my climbing style didn't look that good in the beginning, but it was efficient! My first hard routes were all vertical: my first 7c+ was Liquer de Coco in Verdon, my first 8a was Apache in Cornalba and my first 8a+ was Outsider, all of which are fairly technical. Perhaps the way I climbed them was fairly brutal though…. Col di Tenda, Strike 8a+ photo Luca Lozza |
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| I enjoy bouldering competitions, but I prefer normal competitions which I feel are more complete, in a sense "harder' and more demanding. In bouldering comps even if you fall you get another go, you have 6 minutes to sort yourself out. It's harder to train for normal competitions, much more complicated. To train for power you need to train for 2-3 hours a day and that's it, then all you do is rest. Endurance training is completely different: 3 hours in the morning, 3 in the afternoon, for 3-4 days without a break. I really enjoy bouldering outdoors: I've been to Fontainebleau, to Cresciano and Meschia. I go in winter when conditions are good and I can get up an 8a. I do about 60 problems in a day, instead of trying the same boulder problem again and again. I just can't do this, because the whole thing is a game and I enjoy going from one boulder to the next. I saw Fred Nicole at Cresciano - he doesn't climb anything! He tries a problem, then rests for 20 minutes, tries again and rests for a further 20 minutes. I get bored doing that. I try one, then move on to the next. |
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 Cristian Brenna at Meschia photo F. Balteri |
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