Arco (Tn), September 4 and 5 Rock Master 2004

Eighteen years without feeling them. This year the Rock Master of Arco, the world’s most prestigious event of sport climbing, becomes of age.
The genesis of the legendary sport event, born under the limestone wall of the Colodri above Arco, dates back to the far away 1987. Eighteen years are a lot for a sport as young as climbing. And the Rock Master, of course, has seen all kind of things, during these seasons. Many ideas, people and emotions.
Vinicio Stefanello, editor of Planet Mountain, famous website dedicated to the mountain world, tells us his impressions about the event.
Oscar Durbiano

Rock Master 2004 that goes, Rock Master that comes
Are we satisfied with the possible or do we want to demolish the wall of the impossible? Also the eighteenth edition of the big happening in Arco has written its verdict: for the third time in a row roi Alexander Chabot has imposed his law, while the star of Angela Eiter has shone brighter than ever, repeating the success of the last edition. In short, the prediction nearest to the possible has proven right. But, attention, it wouldn’t be right to stop at the ranking. The competition in Arco goes always further than the numbers, and, if it is true that the winners are the same of 2003, there has always been another possibility. It has always been like that: the great athletes of all ages got their degrees in the vertical university of Arco. Ever since the Rock Master is a story made of several stories, all between possible and impossible, all different from edition to edition, all to be remembered, like the ones of this Master 2004.

First story: “ The difficulty of on-sight or the unexpected difficulty”.
The question at the beginning: were the routes possible or impossible, and how do we want them to be? Just after the observation the people were saying that the on-sight route was easy, while it was a matter of fact that the athletes had found the worked route very hard. In Arco the winner is the one who climbs more meters, adding the on-sight and the worked route, therefore people were expecting several chains for the on-sight, and the final ranking would be decided by the worked route. Would we have a soft start? Not really: the first two climbers fall after less than 8 meters, from the same hold, a treacherous reglette with a banana shape. A crushing blow!
Even worse, they are two symbols of Italian climbing, Alberto Gnerro and Christian Brenna. Suddenly the atmosphere cools down, despite the summer heat. But The show must go on! And Ovtchinnikov manages to climb past the killer hold and falls under the first roof. Yes, it is a really hard route, to conquer hold after hold. And the fantastic Luca Zardini does exactly this, climbing very high with the moral rhythm of the spectators, until he reaches a slippery undercling mid-eight. It is possible to understand how strong he has been when Christian Bindhammer falls very low and the powerful Usobiaga climbs only a few holds higher. Even Crespi and Petrenko don’t reach him, and the Spanish champion “Ramonet” Puigblanque can’t stick the same hold of Zardini. Only Sylvain Millet is able to touch the same hold of Usobiaga. It the competition ended here we would have a “compressed” ranking, the right one for the play-off of the worked route. But it isn’t like this, because Chabot and Mrazek haven’t climbed yet. Chabot is careful, precise, explores the untouched holds and finishes his exciting run only four holds under the top. Today also the spectators like the roi! Now the World Champion is climbing, he is also the leader of the World Cup. The route seems easy and he climbs without effort, he passes the crux mid-eight and follows Chabot. A probable chain? Not at all! Tomasz, the Lord of the impossible has accustomed us to the unexpected. First he doesn’t take a hold, later he puts a knee on a foot hold, then something never seen before happens: his shorts get tangled up in a quickdraw, he pulls to free himself but he is anchored and falls down. Eight meters lower than Chabot. The Rock Master has already been assigned? It has been all so fast and intense that it is hard to realize that the first day is already finished. Until now it has been an interesting competition, with unique intensity and the battle of all athletes, hold after hold, has been exciting. A pity that Chabot has already won… Instead the certainty of the results doesn’t exist, particularly in this Rock Master.

Second story: “The worked route or nothing is certain from the beginning”.
The Sunday of Rock Master is like a run with handicap: on their shoulders the athletes carry the result and the fatigue of the on-sight competition. They have to get rid of the abyss between them and Chabot. The load carried by Gnerro and Brenna is really heavy. For them it is really a mission impossible, also if they don’t give up, especially Christian, who arrives near the safety of the first rest. It is a truly serious route, 8c+, if we want to make a not always correct comparison between competition and natural routes. The route requires maximum power from the start, with a hazardous traversing move in the middle of the wall and a relative rest. From that point better holds but precise footwork lead to the corner, and then the big wave-shaped roof, to continue toward the impossible, to touch the sky of the structure.
After the big fall, head first, of Ovtchinnikov, who has tried everything to reach the island of the white ball (the rest point), also Petrenko has to renounce to the mirage. Bindhammer instead doesn’t give up, and he reaches the white ball and continues on the awesome face, on the corner and over the roof. He demonstrates that the impossible is possible. The crowd is screaming, the German climber has climbed so high that he has greatly reduced the abyss between him and the leaders. It’s early to speak about the results, but the route is possible and very beautiful, besides hard. The dream of the German continues also with Flavio Crespi. He climbs so well and he seems to have so much power, but our hope is dampened when he has almost reached the safety of the corner: this route doesn’t allow the slightest error.
Puigblanque is too short to take advantage of the first rest, he continues without problems on the overhanging face, and then he lounges to reach the corner… without sticking the hold. A pity, the Spaniard almost made the wonder. Also Luca Zardini tries to reach the sky, he climbs really well until the middle of the route, he reaches the rest and there, suddenly, he falls down. Great competition also for him. And just afterward a really great performance of Sylvain Millet, who seems to have problems from the beginning but manages to continue until the great roof. It is a surprise also because Usobiaga falls very early and for Millet that means a well-deserved third place. When it’s the turn of Mrazek everybody expects the top. And Tomasz climbs like crazy, he is still feeling the pain of the tangled up shorts: first rest, corner, roof and straight to the chain.
Nothing can stop him. He is the only one who can do it. And he does it: he doesn’t use a foothold, he takes a hold with his left hand but doesn’t stick it, Tomasz can’t believe it, and also the spectators cannot. Just after him Chabot, suffering more than ever, doesn’t even reach the corner. There is an abyss between the two, but not enough to cover the one of the day before: for a few centimeters Chabot wins the Rock Master. Is Mrazek the unluckiest climber? Is Mrazek the moral winner? We didn’t know yet, but a few hours later there would have been another photofinish waiting for them. But don’t hurry, now is the time of the women’s story.

Third story: “Women’s competition or Angela Eiter and the superstar Austrian school”.
Muriel Sarkany isn’t here, she concentrates on the World Cup, and it is hard to find another protagonist for this Rock Master, beside Angela Eiter. The little Austrian of the prestigious school of Imst has dominated the competition, almost touching the top of the on-sight route and reaching the chain (the only one of Rock Master 2004) of the worked route. She hasn’t had rivals. Sandrine Levet struggled, but she was never a concern for the Austrian, she just took second place, and not even for granted, considering how many troubles she had on the worked route. But the bouldering champion is really great, we know: she never gives up. Therefore she could defend herself from the sixteen years old Katharina Saurwein, third, while fourth is the methodical Swiss Alexandra Eyer.
Fifth is instead Jenny Lavarda, surely not at the limit of her possibilities, also if she has probably taken part in her best Rock Master ever. Anyway one thing is sure after this edition: with Angela Eiter women’s sport climbing has found a real star. Is it a case, that her idol is Lynn Hill, who won four Rock Master here in Arco? Another almost sure thing is that her next rival, (excluding Sarkany) will probably be exactly the young compatriot Katharina Saurwein. In the duel for the Ennio Lattisi Trophy Katharina won against Angela, demonstrating a remarkable confidence. A sign of the power of the Imst new school.

Fourth story: “The duel or the show of synchronized climbing”.
We told you how Alexandre Chabot barely won the Rock Master, against Mrazek. Something never happened before in Arco, not in this way at least. You wouldn’t believe that after less than an hour the same thing happened again: in the duel for the Lattisi Trophy it has been necessary to look at the video, to take the decision to assign the first place joint equal. It has been the most exciting duel ever seen: Chabot and Mrazek climbed incredibly fast, alternating at the lead until the roof, took at the same time the exit hold and then like trains continued with the same speed.
Tomasz was perhaps the first to get the last hold, but Chabot was faster clipping the chain… Suspence and the spectators loudly asking for a second run for the play-off. Then the decision of the jury: joint equal. May be it is better like this, regarding the course of the things Mrazek didn’t deserve to barely lose again. It is the law of sport, but may be, for one time, for this time, we wouldn’t have liked it.

Fifth story: “Bouldering or experimentation”.
The Sint Rock Bouldering Contest has never been so successful. It has a special formula, compared with the World Cup. Much faster and much crueler: after each boulder the climber with the worse result is eliminated (two climbers after the first boulder), until the three best athletes reach the fourth and last problem. This time the eliminated at the first boulder were Olga Bibik among the women and Mauro Calibani among the men. Two of the absolute best climbers of the competition. Not that the others were at a lower level, but there has been some delusion. Anyway it was awesome among the women the perfect score of French Melanie Son, topping out all boulders first try. And beautiful also the performance of Anna Stöhr, second with three tops at the first try and one at the second try. Third is Ioulia Abramtchouk, while only fifth is Giulia Giammarco, who started strong on the first boulder, but lost herself unexpectedly on the slab. Among the men the strong fighter Matthias Müller wins in front of Daniel Dulac and the usual great Salavat Rakhmetov. What will be remembered of this competition? For the women the doubt that the problems were too easy, and for the men the spectacular boulder of the slab, really wonderful, and the terrible heat, that made climbing almost impossible. But bouldering is a sure passion and the feeling is that the spectators enjoyed it all the same.

End of the story…. also if it could continue.
In short, our report was long this time, but we wanted it like this, because we found this Rock Master 2004, more than others, so thrilling. A competition that requested everything from the athletes and because of that was so exciting for the spectators. Thanks to the routes (beautiful and very hard) set by Leonardo Di Marino and Donato Lella. They dared with the difficulty and the show was great. At the end even the result taken for granted after the first competition day could have changed. The athletes take the credit for the success, because they have always given the maximum and have demonstrated a level almost unthinkable a couple of years ago. And really, it would have been a pity to speak about this Rock Master and not to tell some episodes, truly incredible and that will hardly happen again. We saw many people and a lot of stories, all compressed in one and half day. Who knows, may be the Rock Master and Arco would deserve more space.
What would you say about a whole week among crags, competitions, beers at Pio’s and whatever else under the shadow of the Colodri?
Vinicio Stefanello

Trofeo RockMaster – men’s results
1. Chabot Alexandre FRA
2. Mrázek Tomás CZE
3. Millet Sylvain FRA
4. Bindhammer Christian GER
5. Puigblanque Ramón Julián ESP
6. Crespi Flavio ITA
7. Zardini Luca ITA
8. Usobiaga Patxi ESP
9. Petrenko Maxim UKR
10. Ovtchinnikov Evgueni RUS
11. Brenna Cristian ITA
12. Gnerro Alberto ITA

Trofeo RockMaster – women’s results
1. Eiter Angela AUT
2. Levet Sandrine FRA
3. Saurwein Katharina AUT
4. Eyer Alexandra SUI
5. Lavarda Jenny ITA
6. Cufar Martina SLO
7. Knorr Damaris GER
8. Bacher Barbara AUT
9. Vidmar Maja SLO

Women’s duel - Trofeo Ennio Lattisi
1) Saurwein Katharina AUT
2) Eiter Angela AUT
3) Levet Sandrine FRA
4) Eyer Alexandra SUI

Men’s duel - Trofeo Ennio Lattisi
1) Tomàs Mràzek CZE - Chabot Alexandre FRA
3) Millet Sylvain FRA
4) Bindhammer Christian GER

Sint roc boulder contest – men’s results
1. Müller Matthias SUI
2. Dulac Daniel FRA
3. Rakhmetov Salavat RUS
4. Oleksy Tomasz POL
5. Meyer Jérôme FRA
6. Kazbekov Serik UKR
7. Calibani Mauro ITA
8. Ghidini Stefano ITA

Sint roc boulder contest – women’s results
1. Son Mélanie FRA
2. Stöhr Anna AUT
3. Abramtchouk Ioulia RUS
4. Perlova Natalia UKR
5. Giammarco Giulia ITA
6. Bibik Olga RUS
7. Danion Juliette FRA

Speed competition
1. Oleksy Tomasz POL
2. Soubbotine Iakov RUS
3. Pechekhonov Alexandre RUS
4. Komondi Csaba HUN
5. Mecherzynski-Wiktor Andrzej POL
6. Boulbahaiem Salah BEL
7. Hroza Libor CZE
8. Svacha Jiri CZE