CAMILLOTTO PELLESIER   I'd already taken a look at this route back in 1997 when I was attempting to climb the Couzy route. It was opened in 1967 by E. Mauro and M. Minuzzo during a nine-day climb which they dedicated to Pellesier. Not an easy route to find! Three metres from the start, a multitude of pitons shoot up toward the top that is about three hundred metres from the base.   In the early days of July, I set off yet again with my dear friend Riccardo Milani, a survivor from last summer's stay in the basement of the Tre Cime (Three Peaks) - uncomfortable, cold days spent under the great roof of the Cima Ovest (West Peak) where the Bellavista pitch begins... the perfect place for hanging salamis and preserving good wine. In the first two days I managed to re-equip the belays with two new bolts; I left the original pitons in the pitches. There were lots of pitons, every 70-80cm, but some only stuck in a few millimetres in the rock and for the most part faced downwards. Good for hanging but I doubt they could bear jumps however small.   I fixed a static rope from belay to belay all the way up to the great roof so I could easily go back down to the base and given the perfect verticality of the route, try out the pitches by free climbing it on my own. After a few days of going up and down on my own trying out the best sequences for the route, together with Ghin du Domegge who kindly offered to belay for me, I managed to free all the pitches. All that was left was the final assault: free climb the whole route and do it in one day.   I set off with Kurt Astner from Trieste at 4 in the morning on Friday 1st August to avoid paying the toll on the road that goes to the Auronzo refuge. Despite my few hours of sleep, like in a dream I managed to climb the whole route... luckily every now and then there are days when everything seems to click and everything goes right.   The best thing wasn't nailing the 10th level at the end, but the beauty of the route with its strangely healthy rock and sequence of movements that seem hand-drawn... very satisfying!   I have spent some unforgettable days on the dark and vertical walls of the Tre Cime amongst friends, belted by storms, with holds that fall away, frightening moments... but I still love this place and feel part of this corner of the Dolomites. But I always need something to spark my enthusiasm and make me want to go back... then I'm right off. I've just finished this route but I already want to leave for another trip... I've already seen it... and it will be another story of vertical magic.   Bubu				"Camillotto Pellesier" CIMA GRANDE DI LAVAREDO 2999 metri (Tre Cime, Dolomiti) Drawing Movie (3,12 Mb)
						Photos by Fabio Dandri