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New icefall in Val Budria

On 05/01/2013 Cristian Candiotto and Ezio Lualdi made the probable first ascent of the icefall Illusion (90m, 5/5+) in Val Budria (Italy).

Planetmountain

January 2013

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05/01/2013: Illusion in Val Budria, climbed on 05/01/2013 by Cristian Candiotto and Ezio Lualdi.

Cristian Candiotto

When talking about new icefalls, it's imperative that we use the word "probable", as often the drips don't form for years and years and not everything that has been climbed in the past has been documented. With this in mind, here is Illusion, the icefall set in a beautiful gully in Val Budria in the province of Sondrio, climbed on 5 January by Cristian Candiotto and Ezio Lualdi. This is their report and route topo:

ILLUSION IN VAL BUDRIA by Cristian Candiotto

What can I say, I couldn't have asked for a better way to kick the new year off than with a great first ascent together with an old climbing partner of mine. I'd checked out this gully in summer and asked other local climbers to find out whether something interesting had ever formed in this beautiful and isolated valley which I'd often been to in the past, but I'd always been unlucky: I'd have to wait. And so I waited for the right moment: a rainy autumn, little snow in winter and the right temperatures... I phoned Marcello: "Hey, how cold is it a Tartano?" "-2°C" he replied. "Right, tomorrow's the day." And this is how Illusion came into being.

Why Illusion? Because from down in the valley you simply can't believe that it's up there, when you first see the drip it looks huge, but as you approach it becomes shorter and shorter. But when you finally start to climb you realise it's not so short after all. An illusion therefore that continues to shift reality.

TOPO: Illusion, Val Budria

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