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BELLAVISTA Summer 2000. By chance I found myself under the North of the West looking for the start of the Bellavista. The route had just been opened that very winter by Alex Huber. Artificial A4, passages on the cliffs on the Lavaredo... hum... sounds fishy to me! I think I can free climb it! The rock of the Lavaredo is full of surprises, there's always a micro foothold or a hole to hold onto. What reassures me are those bolted belays.    I want
to try it... but I can't find the starting point, I can't see the pitons.Then an idea comes to me, and I get side tracked by other projects... thank goodness... I would never have imagined that Alex would have returned to try and free climb it! The next year, here's the news! Shit! I was right! Oh well, maybe it was better this way... otherwise the German would have driven me to the wall! June 2002. I'm waiting for the snow to melt. On the 26th I'm going to climb it together with Riccardo Milani who has offered to accompany me for a few days (in honour of our friendship). Alex has written "BELLAVISTA" with a marker! On the first day I climb up right under the roof. Thank heavens I have a some pitons because along the way I found very few footholds.   The next day we climbed using the fixed ropes I had left in the
previous days and I set off for the great roof, two sections of A4 make
it an 8c. I take out the cliffs right at the beginning, they're rusty
because I don't think I'v used them in about twelve years, ever since
the Marmolada. Metre after metre I get more and more stressed: the
equipment just isn't trustworthy. I'm really concentrated, my eyes
straining, on jumping out from the first roof, and naturally, the piton is far off.I arrive at the first belay and wait for Ricki (even more stressed than I) and we start off on the second part. After a few metres I find a piton, but as I pull it, it comes right out in my hand... luckily I had added others along the way. Every now and then the cliffs give out and down I go again... Ricki is taking care that everything is secure. Anyway... I get to the belay totally exhausted. First comment: he's crazy to come here on his own in the middle of winter! Bravo though, he opened the route and free climbed it too.  I finish
the top part as well, much easier and I start to free climb
the roof. I would never have thought I'd spend the entire summer trying
to free up the route. A bit of bad luck because of the horrible
weather, but above all, what makes my life difficult is the damp air
which together with the chalk make the holds feel like soap.In this period, together with the unstoppable Ricki, there are a few companions who help me; until, on the 16th September, with Cristian Brenna, who for the first time laid his hands on an alpine rock face, I manage to repeat the route. The day before, with Cristian, I had tried the movements of the 8c and it was freezing cold... below zero for sure, but the air was so crisp that the wall was perfectly dry and the hold so sure, like never before.
 A
magic moment: all the movements seem easy, great adherence, no sweat
and after I don't know how long... it could have been 10 minutes or two
hours, I got to the belay ready to discharge all that adrenaline with a
shout. Cristian, a block of ice, reached me at the belay so that I
could finish the following pitches. We returned to the base at six and
to finish the climb I set off quickly on the first easy 5 pitches and
without wasting time I concatenate them in three.On paper, this should be my first 8c, but it's not the number that makes me feel great, it's the history that lies in this route situated in the most impressive Dolomites. But not just that, it's the history of friendships, sacrifice, determination, small achievements, setbacks calculated risks and a good dose of luck that always comes in handy. Bubu
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"Bellavista" WEST PEAK OF LAVAREDO 2973 metres (Tre Cime, Dolomites) 
Movie (3,17 Mb) |
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| Photos by Andrea Gallo |
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Photos by Riccardo Milani |
