Gajum: Stefano Bianchi repeats Achtung Baby Plus 8b+

On 7 January the 30-year-old climber Stefano Bianchi managed to redpoint the route Achtung Baby Plus 8b+ at Gajum above the village Canzo in Northern Italy. The route is comprised of the historic 8b Achtung Baby - freed by Severino Scassa on 25 January 1992, 20 years ago and at the time one of the first 8b's in Italy - and the complicated and fingery extension added by Aldo Rovelli. The route takes a central line through the limestone crag, was repeated by Luca Passini in 2005 and Bianchi's recent ascent is likely to be only the second repeat.


Gajum by Stefano Bianchi

Gajum is a historic crag in the Lecco - Como area, located at the foot of the Corni di Canzo peaks. Gino Notari and Valerio Casari created the first routes and later they were joined by the likes of Aldo Rovelli, the tireless Adriano (Franz) Carnati who added most of the routes, Marco Vago and many more...

The climbing at Gajum is fairly demanding, both physically due to the constant angle of the crag and technically, seeing that most routes require precise footwork on small holds... In the Lecco region Gajum is perhaps one of the most interesting top-end crags thanks to its steep overhangs with tufas and pockets, flanked by the vertical slabs.