Riccardo Scarian and Manolo repeat Bain de sang, 9a

Saint Loup, Switzerland. Midday on Friday 3 February 2006. Riccardo Scarian and Manolo, both manage to repeat Bain de Sang, 9a, opened by the Swiss Fred Nicole in 1993.
It is one of the most technical and difficult slabs in the world. The difficulty of the route flirts around 9a. We are at the absolute height of the speciality. Manolo (48 years old) and Riccardo (38) are two climbers of the old school, great connoisseurs of technical climbing, grown up in the shadow of the Dolomites and their beautiful limestone walls. Together they have shared a thousand adventures, having in common this great passion for vertical dancing. From multi pitch to the most extreme single pitch routes. Vinicio Stefanello tells us about this story of friendship and complicity. He tells us about the dreams of these two “middle aged” youngsters, that still to this day have the desire to measure themselves against their own limits.
Oscar Durbiano

Bain de Sang
The news spreads like wildfire...mysteries of modern communication. Or better, mysteries of the invisible network: nobody knows anything but everyone knows everything. The fact is that the news of the double repetition of Bain de Sang on the part of Manolo (whose real name is Maurizio Zanola) and by Sky (alias Riccardo Scarian) spread like lightning. Obviously part of this “uproar” is due to the fame and the difficulty of the route opened in 1993 by Fred Nicole in the Swiss Saint Loup: the repetition of a 9a - this is in fact, confirmed by Fred and François Nicole, Fred Rouhling and Josune Bereciartu, the official grade of Bain - always makes news. But we cannot hide the fact, that in this case, even…the birth dates of the protagonists played an important role. The ascent of “Bain” is without a doubt a news item!
Yes, because one cannot but be happily surprised by Manolo’s last run, which centred the chain of his umpteenth “maximum” in sports climbing on the threshold of his 48 ‘summers’ which, by the way, will take place in ten days time. A great way for the “Magician” to celebrate. It is also important to notice the performance of his companion in adventure, Riccardo Scarian, even he is no longer of a tender age, with his 38 years, who in the direct confrontation of attempts, preceded him in reaching the chain of the vertical and smooth slab of “Bain”.
For both climbers it is a great verification after other adventures together, like the 8c at Fonzaso and the one at “altitude” with “Cani Morti” on the Campanile Basso of Lastei. A confirmation and a confrontation that the two wanted to attempt away from home with all that 800 km of distance implies as well as the “problem” to solve. There was in a few words, the “curiosity” to try and try oneself out on this “Bain de sang” that Manolo describes as a 20 metre slab, smooth and vertical, with a first part which is a bit physical until you reach a “rest”, which is followed by a second part which increases in difficulty with two slight “waves” and a delicate, culminating sequence at the exit. A route on slab, that is an aleatory route which makes the two say and think that “if we can climb a 9a, this is the right “terrain”, right for us…” so, last year they started tasting the “problem” with two trips, that each time met with bad weather, that allowed them to measure the problem. A problem which apparently seems resolvable, but which hides difficulties like all slabs, naturally taken to the highest level in honour of the maxium difficulty given (not by chance) to this route. The password of “Bain” is “aleatory” and therefore, as Manolo says: “it takes nothing, to lose, even only for a fraction of a second, agility and interior rhythm and you are down!”
This is the story of last Friday’s attempts (two each) which brought Sky and Manolo out of the “Blood Bath” of uncertainty. Straight away, after the first attempt, Riccardo Scarian feels he has the route within his reach, he is already up high and sees the exit…he thinks he is there...and then that “distraction” seizes him up : down like lightning, everything has to be repeated. The great slab just like a rattle snake has hit again…It is Manolo’s turn now and he is not at all in good spirits: due to one of his many and indescribable injuries he has a finger partly out of use. Therefore he does not know how, and if, he will manage to resolve one of the key moves: a monodoigt for which he has to use his injured finger. The first attempt is therefore a verification, and the solution of the enigma: “if I caress the holds, instead of pulling on them and squeezing them, and I entrust everything to balance then maybe I will make it”.
After about an hour spent searching for maximum concentration it is Riccardo’s turn for his second attempt: “In a flash I see myself up there playing my cards to climb the route on the last move, the hardest and most aleatory. Three big breaths and off I go, I cannot make a mistake any more, I set off boldly and squeeze the three key holds, and it is done! Now all I have to do is to remain calm and reach the chain which is there a few holds away, with a cry venting off adrenaline, I pass the rope through the chain’s carabiner. While it is happening I do not manage to feel any emotion, maybe I am still immersed in the blood bath!” It is a great moment of happiness for Sky that even after two days he can still not manage to express it in words. Solving the problem it all happened so quickly, it is a truly great satisfaction.
Instead for Manolo everything still has to be achieved, and at this point he must not let tension take over. He knows this is his last resort, or better “all or nothing”, a decisive "make or break” situation. The first part of the route runs smoothly to the “rest”, then he heads off on “egg shells” as Manolo says, and the aleatory ballet starts on tip toes and with the idea of caressing the holds. “I experienced the coldness of a killer” says Mago, a state of grace played on balances only known by him and which carried him to the chain.
Two out of two, Sky and Manolo reach the chain. What a great story! “It was an extremely personal thing, says Manolo, and I cannot but love this route and be grateful to it”. An extremely personal thing which we will talk about again, because it is not often to have at your disposal a witness of all the grades of difficulty covered in sports climbing. The oldest 9a climber: a Guinness of world records magician!

Vinicio Stefanello