Stefano Ghisolfi sends Gioia, 8C+ boulder at Varazze

On Thursday Stefano Ghisolfi sent his hardest boulder to date, Gioia, Christian Core's absolute masterpiece in Varazze, Italy. The problem was put up in March 2008 and initially graded 8C. At the time, the former bouldering world champion preferred to play it safe - perhaps not even he understood how difficult this intense traverse on tiny crimps truly was - but later the bloc was upgraded to 8C+, making it the world's first of this grade.

Confirming its unprecedented difficulty is the fact that over the past 18 years, despite attempts by numerous top climbers, the boulder has been repeated very rarely indeed. Those who have sent this "simply perfect" line are Adam Ondra (2011), Nalle Hukkataival (2014), Niccolò Ceria (2020) and Elias Iagnemma (2021).

Ghisolfi is known above all as a competition climber (read winner of the 2021 Lead World Cup) and his sport climbing achievements (notably the first ascent of the 9b+ Excalibur in Arco), but in recent years he has also dabbled in a bit of bouldering. In the past, he has sent four 8C boulders.

As to Gioia, he first tried it in 2015 and 2016 after sending the 8B standstart, but then didn't return to Varazze for a decade. His send, he explained, "means a lot to me," adding that "the name of the boulder means Joy, and it couldn't fit better for the feeling I had once I climbed it."