Cristian Brenna repeats Is not always Pasqua, 8b or E9/7a, in Interprete
(AP).
It always feels strange to try to put down in writing the sensations
experienced climbing a route. Is not always Pasqua, the hardest
Italian Hard Grit line (style of progression on extreme routes with
natural protections, ndr) is a line that has always been in my climbing
dreams, since I saw the pictures of Mauro (Calibani, ndr). The desire
to face that kind of style was strong. Further Calibba continued
to make me curious about it every time we met, he often told me
about that line and the strong emotions he had experienced climbing
it.
Is not always Pasqua is surely a kind of anomalous route, because
inspired from the English ethics of mental climbing on Gritstone,
where pure difficulty and a strong psychological component are joined
together, because bolts aren’t used and the protections are
exclusively traditional (nuts and friends).
Surely
for Mauro it has been a special experience, because a complete and
unrepeatable one. He is the one who discovered the line, has looked
for the moves in the sandstone wrinkles and has tried to connect
them together, keeping in mind the risk of the hazardous protections.
It has been an itinerary with several stages, conquered day after
day, try after try, because there was nothing obvious in what he
was doing. His adventure finished with the redpoint, in the afternoon
of the 15 October 2002.
My itinerary towards Is not always Pasqua has been different, for
obvious reasons. On the other side, I like climbing at 360°,
and this was an experience that was worth it, despite all the risks
I would encounter.
Finally I manage to organize an attack with the one who has freed
the route, aspect that has been fundamental for the success of the
project. I spent the first two days rehearsing the moves, trying
to find the most congenial solution for myself, with an attentive
Calibani giving me precious advice. At the end of the second day
I was able to top rope the route. Now it was only necessary to add
the last detail: the redpoint.
Thursday, 20 November 2003. After a rest day I am under the route
again. With me, beside Mauro, there are Amanda to take pictures
and Ric “boulder-boy” with a video camera. After warming
up, I lower down from the belay stance to put in the protections.
In practice there are three groups of protections, spread along
the 18 meters of the route. The first protection consists in two
nuts four meters from the ground. The second one, at the end of
the first easy section, are two friends stuck in a hole, with a
nut jammed in another pocket. The third protection, the most important
one, is a small nut combined with a friend. Differently from Mauro
I decide to use a bigger friend in the last group of protections,
the rest is the same.
I rest half an hour and start the first try. I reach the rest before
the two key sections, relax a little my forearms and continue on
the first section with some difficulty. In fact I had always found
this part the most committing, and may be I lose a little concentration.
Satisfied for the good result of the progression, I clip friend
and nut, relax a bit and start again. I climb the entire key sequence.
In a second I reach the reestablishment on the slab. In that moment,
without understanding the reason, I lose my balance and fall. The
only thing I manage to say is a worried “lower me down!”
I am lucky: the protections hold the fall and Calibba softly catches
me. After reaching the ground, a lout liberating scream, to loose
my tension.
Recovering
from the fright, in the following minutes I try to analyze the dynamic
of the accident and I understand that I have unloaded too suddenly
the right foot, smearing on the slab. Taking away pressure so suddenly
I must have lost a subtle balance and have fallen.
Mauro, Amanda and Ric try to calm me down. For twenty minutes we
are even able to laugh about it. Thinking well about it, on the
other side, there wasn’t much to laugh about, because the
risk of an injury was really high. But that is life.
A little later I start again, super concentrated. This time everything
runs smoothly, or almost. In fact, while I am finishing the route,
the last nut comes out of the crack, and only the friend remains.
Luckily this is the good try. After a few seconds I am on the top,
exultant. I lower down, clean the pitch and bring Is not always
Pasqua back to its original state, with a few chalk spots more,
that the first rain will wash away for ever.
It in not always Pasqua, but sometimes yes.
Cristian Brenna
