Federica Mingolla and Marcello Bombardi win the rock climbing competition at Valgrisenche

The outdoor rock climbing competition at Valgrisenche, Valle d'Aosta, was won on Sunday 2 September by Federica Mingolla and Marcello Bombardi. the fought-out comp took place at the same crag that hosted the first climbing competition in Valle d'Aosta 30 years ago. The report by Alberto Gnerro, route setter and winner of that historic first competition three decades ago.
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Federica Mingolla during the climbing competiton at Valgrisenche, Valle d'Aosta on 02/09/2018
Evi Garbolino

When the speaker mentions your name and says that the winner 30 years ago was called Alberto Gnerro, it’s then that you understand that time inexorably passes. But Sunday we certainly weren’t there to celebrate the past. One lives for the moment and if you’re still part of the game you need to look into the future, without reliving things of yesterday that perhaps don’t interest anyone any more.

So if I look into the future while hanging on the rope taking photos I see Marcello Bombardi who, with clenched teeth, crimps one crimp after the next, climbing higher and higher to win the competition. An event invented by Andrea Plat, pioneer, enthusiastic discoverer and unstoppable first ascentionist of so many routes in this valley. He came to me with his idea, perhaps with a hint of melancholy. Bring competitions back onto rock. Looking at how things have evolved, this seems an almost impossible task. But I accept the challenge of setting two routes that wind their way past two old competition climbs… past chipped holds so typical of the ’80’s and forgotten micro-crimps, used only to consume climbing shoe rubber on

I set the men's final twice, looking for the best line, the series of holds that would provide a fight. But there was no battle. Marcello was so superior that he left his opponents miles behind. It was great to watch a new generation climber grinding his teeth on holds that he knows little about... but his desire to win, that was evident from his grimaces, a mix of fatigue and pain. The rest of the day was made by the participants who believed in it and also those who abstained ... but perhaps the latter are not interested in history.

Among the women, Federica Mingolla demonstrated that on terrain where sensitivity and careful footwork make all the difference, she can still hold her own. She didn’t top out, but battled spectacularly hard and.The day came to an end and after 2 hours of sitting in my harness my hands were numb from the cold. I got into the car, turned on the heater and headed home. I didn’t think about anything, only the climbing projects that I still have in mind... and so, 30 years down the line, it seems to me that this desperate search never ends.

Results
Male

1. Marcello Bombardi 
2. Marco Zanone 
3 Davide Carena
4. Alessandro Cavazza - Luca Malosti 
5. Lorenzo Carasio 
6. Tommaso Pansini
7. Donato Lella 
8. Alessio Garofalo 
9. Morgan Melchoro

Female 
1. Federica Mingolla
2. Francesca Medici 
3. Claudia Giglio

Organisation: Andrea Plat, Proloco Valgrisenche e Comune di Valgrisenche
With the support of: L'Hotel Perret, Il Bar Ristorante Le Vieux Quartier, La Maison des Myrtilles, Il Bistrot La Luge, La Maison Bovard, Il Rifugio Chalet de l’Epée, Il Bar de l’Aiguille, Il Rifugio Bezzi, Les Tisserands, il B&B Le Souvenir and others
Technical sponsors: GrivelDocRock and Il Negozio di Sport Baroli

Info: www.prolocovalgrisenche.com | www.comune.valgrisenche.ao.it

 




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