Stefano Carnati flashes 8c Thursday, sends 2 9a's on Sunday at La Stazione

After a summer bouldering at Rocklands in South Africa, Stefano Carnati is currently on fire. The 26-year-old Italian has now swapped a crashpad for harness and rope and at La Stazione in Val Tanaro he was on devastating form: 8c flash on Thursday and, on Sunday, two 9a's in a day. These are truly exceptional performances. As to 8c flash, the first to achieve this was Kilian Fischhuber, on Tai chi at Lorünser Steinwand in Austria in 2004, and in Italy the list of those sending this grade first go include Silvio Reffo (2013), Dino Lagni (2016), Stefano Ghisolfi (2018), Giorgio Tomatis (2021), and Luca Bertacco (2024). As for two 9a's in a day... well, even fewer have achieved this feat.

ALL GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES... ALMOST
Last Sunday at La Stazione, close to Garessio, was one of those days that will stay with me for a while. I had already visited this crag last year, just after returning from Slovenia, on two consecutive weekends, but I had some unfinished business. After a summer mainlybouldering, culminating in three weeks at Rocklands, my shape at the crag was certainly not the best, quite the opposite. Fortunately, my endurance came back faster than expected: some targeted training and a repeat of La mola mola (9a) at Plamproz allowed me to gradually get back into the right rhythm.

I decided to return to La Stazione to pick up where I'd left off. First, I managed to flash the splendid Paranoid (8c), a true masterpiece and, recently, one of the most repeated routes here. Right after, I dedicated myself to Vivi si Muore (9a):  the burly, bouldery start is followed by continuous and sustained climbing, with several sketchy moves up to the rest that prepares you for the final crux of Paranoid Android (8c/+). On Saturday the sensations weren't great, but on Sunday everything changed: with better conditions, on my first attempt of the day I managed to clip the chains of Vivi si Muore.

With adrenaline still pumping through my veins and a shred of energy left, I couldn't stop. So I jumped straight back on Prima Classe (9a), a power-endurance route that gets harder and harder the higher you go. I had already tried it last year, plu a couple of goes in the previous days... unbelievably, I sent this one too!

A few hours later, on Trainspotting (9a/+), gravity decided to remind me who's in charge: I fell on the last hard move. A good reason to come back... and who knows, maybe one day the saying "all good things come in threes" will actually come true!

Thanks to Carlo Giuliberti for developing this place and to Lorenzo Bogliacino for freeing the hardest lines. I'm sure that La Stazione will see more and more strong fingers soon!

- Stefano Carnati, Erba

Carnati thanks CAMP, SCARPA, Rock Experience and Df Sport Specialist