Queen Mary docks at Transatlantico in Italy's Sarca Valley

Daniele Bolognani succeeded admirably in describing the bizarre wall of Transatlantico, and I would like to report his words: "The Transatlantico is an imposing wall that impresses both for its verticality and for its colour. It has some of the best rock in the entire Sarca Valley, a top-notch yellowish-blue limestone. The climbing is technical and demands strong fingers and stamina. The wall can be considered a large crag, full of not particularly high multi-pitch sports climbs, which allows you to climb more than just one route in a day. East facing, it is ideal in mid-seasons (in summer in gets the shade as early as 12.30) and since it receives the full brunt of the Ora del Garda, the wind that blows northwards up from Lake Garda, you can even climb here late on summer afternoons."

This description is found in the topo for Il sole e la luna, the route Daniele established with Silvia Bert in 2024. It was precisely while repeating that route with Nicholas Hobley — it makes me smile to think that he will be the one checking the topo for this new route — that a year ago I noticed a section of unclimbed rock about fifty metres wide between Il sole e la luna and Servus Franz.

Since opening a route with Nicholas seemed difficult to achieve due to geographical distance and time constraints, I asked Matte (the second member of the legendary Banda Faletti trittico) if he would like to share the project.

I felt I owed him something after the magical mixed opening on Monte Nero di Presanella that he introduced me to years ago. And besides, I enjoy Matte's company: it seemed like a good excuse to see each other, considering we live just three kilometres apart as the crow flies and yet, despite this, we manage to meet far too little.

In previous years, Matte had been forced to deal with an injury that had kept him out of action repeatedly and for long periods of time. When I confessed that I would have liked to call the route Tibie e PERONI (a pun on beer and shins), Matte was sidelined again for a few months, and although the name was meant as a joke, we realised it was simply bringing bad luck and preferred not to tempt fate any further.

In short, I wanted to share a good adventure with him, albeit on a small scale. The result was Queen Mary: three enjoyable, physical pitches requiring endurance and good technique, which can easily be combined with any other route on the wall, perhaps as training ahead of the summer season in the Dolomites.

A big thank you to Alice Russolo, who dedicated her time and professionalism to take some great photos for us.

– Matteo Pavana, Povo, TN