Stevie Haston repeats Greenspit in Valle del Orco

There seems no stopping Stevie Haston at the moment. Capitalising on his outstanding sport climbing fitness, the fifty-two year old travelled all the way from his home in France to Italy's Valle del Orco with one route in mind: the formidable Greenspit. 

After placing the first cams for his wife Laurence, downclimbing and then belaying her, Stevie proceeded to flash the route, which he feels is more like 8b. In an in-depth interview with UKclimbing, he stated after his ascent "It was, if you like, a bit of a flash as I have seen a video and belayed Laurence but to be honest neither of those things helped me. I had to move one of Laurence's cams and ignored everything else except my instinct."

Greenspit was bolted in the mid eighties but it wasn't until 2003 that Swissman Didier Berthod chopped the bolts and led the route with pre-placed gear. He returned in 2005 to climb the crack placing the gear on lead, while in 2008 Nicolas Favresse from Belgium repeated the 12m horizontal roof in two days. British climber Tom Randall carried out the third ascent in August this year.