Thinking back to Melloblocco 2015. By Sara Grippo

The super machine to the left of my bed turns and churns my blood, my beauty farm! I’ve got 4 hours to spare and my mind wanders back to the beautiful days I’ve just spent at Melloblocco... you know, when you daydream and suddenly you’re reliving those moments that make you feel good, you’re eyes are wide open but it’s just as if you were there (how often do I do this when I'm here!).

I’m no longer surrounded by clean beds, floors and sheets, by needles, syringes and disinfectants, but the smell of fresh air after the night’s rain that tumbled down onto the van’s roof, the snow-capped mountains all around, the huge waterfall behind Sasso Remenno and that river that flows down through the valley…

I’m there in spirit and it almost feels as if I’m there in body! I spent 3 magnificent days having fun with fantastic friends, only on one day (Friday) did I have to go down to Morbegno for dialysis, then I was ready again the next day to hike through the valley searching for the boulders, checking out the moves, trying the links, cleaning the rock with these toothbrushes, looking for the right footholds and finding the stingiest beta to get to the top… who knows what those who saw us might have thought .-) One lady even asked me if that strange giant red rucksack I had strapped to my shoulders was a paraglider ... I tried to explain that it was actually a mattress that I used to fall onto while trying to climb to the top of the boulders ... hmmmm, she looked at me somewhat puzzled…

I suppose we are a bit strange really, us climbers, our souls are driven by those ascents and we even look for the micro edges to reach the top of a problem… sometimes we spend hours, days even finding the beta that suits us most; we we look at the rock with different eyes, and wherever we travel our gaze is always upwards, searching for some rock to be climbed… we’re "people" that looks ever upwards!

And there there’s that energy that drives thousands of people from all over the world to travel to beautiful Val di Mello despite the knowledge that it will rain, that the rocks might be wet... no rain can stop us, we think of the nothing but the sun, the clean air and we use all the tricks of the trade to dry the damp holds: stoves, paper towels, shirts, handkerchiefs, rags… and the competition itself becomes almost secondary, because even those who compete do so with a different spirit compared to other competitions. There is a sense of union, of aggregation and I believe this is the true secret of Melloblocco; it transforms into a moment to be with others, to share the same love that unites you with others who feel the same as you do when you climb.

I had great fun! I climbed with all my girlfriends girlie ☺: it’s hard to all meet up and climb together, but at Mello this always happens! There’s a different atmosphere and in the evening we all meet up in the main building to talk about what we got up to that day, gesticulating wildly as we reenact the climbs before watching some climbing movies to get motivated for the next day! ☺ And this is then followed by music and partying with friends who perhaps you hadn’t seen since last year!

My four hours have passed and the beeping machine warning me that my therapy is over brings me back to reality… the pain of the needles taken out of my arm tells me that it’s not a dream, but daydreaming and reliving those days had made me serene and happy. That's the reason why, when I'm not here during my 3 weekly visits, I try to live life to the fullest and enjoy myself, this is great compensation for when I’m connect to the machine and can’t do anything. but I can relive everything I’ve done outside of hospital, I try to savor all my time outside of dialysis and so, even when I have to stop for health reasons, I know that I‘ve lived life to the full. Hence thanks Melloblocco and thanks to the wonderful company! NEVER GIVE UP!

by Sara Grippo

MELLOBLOCCO
02/05/2015 - Melloblocco videos 2015
03/05/2015 - Day 4, the grand finale and free bouldering spirit
02/05/2015 - Day 3, solar energy climbing
01/05/2015 - Day two, a somewhat particular feeling 
30/04/2015 - The start of the universal bouldering edition 
28/04/2015 - The eve of the twelfth edition 
22/04/2015 - Masterpiece climbing circuits in the valley of bouldering 
07/04/2015 - More than 1300 climbers pre-register for Val di Mello 
12/03/2015 - Melloblocco 2015 - the universal edition