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Stefano Carnati repeats Spirit Walker 8c at Sasso Remenno

On 13/04/2014 15-year-old Stefano Carnati made only the 4th ascent of Spirit Walker, the historic 8c at Sasso Remenno in Val di Mello freed by Daniele Pigoni back in 1990.

Planetmountain

May 2014

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Stefano Carnati climbing Spirit Walker 8c, Sasso Remenno, Val di Mello

Adriano Carnati

We mentioned it a few days ago and here we go now with a short report from the boy himself. From Stefano Carnati - the Youth B Lead World Champion - who on 13 April made a rare repeat of Spirit Walker up in Val di Mello / Val Masino. The route in question is one of Italy's first 8c's and was climbed on the south face of Sasso Remenno by local activist Daniele Pigoni back in 1990 and therefore almost a decade before 15-year-old Carnati was born. After the first ascent these 12m were climbed in 2003 by Giorgio Piasini and Cristian Brenna but then, despite the efforts by numerous strong climbers, all traces of Spiriti were lost until Carnati's recent ascent. After his fantastic competition results, the 8c+ of Deus irae at Cubo a Claro in Switzerland and a swift ascent of Penumbral Solar Eclipse in Frankenjura, Carnati confirms once again his superb talent.

SPIRIT WALKER IN VAL DI MELLO by Stefano Carnati

I've wanted to try routes of this grade for a long time but seeing that I can't go far from home at the weekends I've been forced to devote my attention to routes close by. And so, after Deus Irae, I decided to check out this particular and rarely repeated route.

The first time I tried it was two Sunday's before my redpoint. I immediately realised that the moves were feasible and the climbing exactly my style. I was pretty pleased that evening with my progress but I new I almost certainly wouldn't have encountered the same, almost perfect conditions. Despite a poor weather forecast I returned a fortnight later to give it a go. It was pretty foggy and damp that morning, and the route was, too.

Nevertheless I decided to give it a go, confident that things would improve and that theforecast northerly wind would pick up in the afternoon. And luckily this happened! After a failed attempt due to my foot slipping I rested for a long time and then gave it another go. I climbed the first section well and fairly quickly and reached the dodgy crux move before the horizontal finishing crack pretty calm. Luckily the heelhook remained in place and so, after a further few difficult moves, I managed to clip the chain! And then, seeing that it was still early in the afternoon and I I was overjoyed, I used the rest of my adrenaline to climb until dinner time!

Video: Cristian Brenna repeating Spirit Walker in 2003