Already a bit ago: The Italian Climber Italian Elias Iagnemma first ascented the two most difficult routes in central Italy in the last two years, with „Ten“ (9a/+) and „Ultimo tango in Zagarolo“ (9a/+)

„Ten“ is Elias‘ hardest route to date. He tried this project for two years, and in addition to the enormous difficulty, the poor conditions also bothered him. The route is located in the small climbing crag Vado di Sole in Abruzzo.

‚Ten‘ for me represented a very important point in my life as a climber. It was a two-year journey. Already in the first I had come very close to climbing it, then bad weather and bad conditions forced me to give it up for that year since the route is located at more than 1600 meters high. In the second year I came back stronger and more motivated but at the beginning retracing the movements was not at all easy until the end of September where on 29 September 2019 I finally managed to climb it. ‚Ten‘ represents and is the hardest route in Abruzzo if not in central Italy together with ‚Ultimo tango in Zagarolo‘. „

The route „Ultimo tango in Zagarolo“ in the climbing area Grotti was bolted 20 years ago by „Jolly“ Alessandro Laberti, a very strong Roman and Italian climber. Many climbers had tried it, but only Elias climbed the route in January 2020.

„Precisely for the latter it was a route that remained unbroken for 20 years, it was the historic project of „Jolly“ Alessandro Laberti, a very strong Roman and Italian climber. He has seen many strong climbers attempting his ascent but has pushed everyone away for a long time. I tried last tango for a few sessions in 2018 but it was always wet so I left it. Then in the winter of 2019 I started to attack it seriously because the conditions were excellent and the route was finally dry. After several gashes of my skin due to the sharp worlds and bitites under this crazy roof, on January 5th 2020 I finally succeed in his first ascent.“

Photos: (c) Archiv Elias Iagnemma (Head – Elias in „Ultimo tango in Zagarolo“ and in the script Elias in „Ten“)