Christian Brenna tells about Les Sindacalistes, 8c+
1993. Giuseppe “Beppe” Dallona and “Ciusse” Bonfanti decide to improve the equipment of an old route, Dafne, in the sector Figli del Vento, in Cornalba (BG). It is in this way that the story of Les Sindacalistes starts, a route that will represent a leap forward in extreme climbing on the Cornalba walls. Beppe begins to try methodically the project. After two years, and about 100 tries, he succeeds in freeing it and proposes the evaluation 8c+/9a. For Beppe, it is, without doubt, the hardest route ever realized.
2001. Les Sindacalistes is always there. Seldom tried and still waiting for a repetition. The route is wonderful and complex. The first part is the most intense. It is about a section of 15 hazardous moves on edges and two finger pockets, topped by a difficult lunge from two vertical holds to a sloping edge, with the right foot that push on a very small foothold. This section alone is a good 8b+. Afterwards it is less hard, 7c, very technical and slightly overhanging. This part, although it doesn't offer good rests, is fundamental to find again motivation and concentration, determinant factors to overcome the first boulder move, 7b, consisting of sticking to a small edge and lifting the right foot almost to the same height of the left hand. Then it is necessary to push and stretch to a small far away hold. From here, lifting the feet very carefully, you get a better hold that permits you to reach the last rest place before the second boulder move. The last move is the hardest one, 7b+/c, because hazardous. You must stick two very small edges and dyno to a sloper. The problem is to avoid turning like a flag and then you still have to stretch to a hole, the last move before the chain. A complex and fascinating route, therefore. A line that proposes a particular progression. I imagine the happiness of Beppe, when he succeeded in realizing Les Sindacalistes, realizing a dream, first seen in the wrinkles of pristine rock, then better defined in the details with the bolting, and then ended with the realization.
I solved the route in about twenty tries, diluted in the years. The first time in '94, when Beppe let me try the project. Sometimes I made a few tries, but always without much conviction. Until last year, when I decided to try it seriously, also because I was very fit. Unfortunately, after a few tries, the route gets wet and has stayed like that all winter. In the fall, thanks also to the optimum conditions, I managed to work it properly and at last to redpoint it. In eight tries.
The difficulty should be about 8c+. I think that the route C'era una volta in America, graded 8c, nearby, isn't a whole grade easier. To solve Les Sindacalistes I used a pair a brand new Miura, taken out of the box that very morning. I have used them on the two warm ups, and then in the recognition try, that I need to put the quickdraws on the route. I had chosen a new shoe because for the first dyno and the last boulder move I needed a certain support and a lot of pushing power, also if I had to renounce to a bit of sensitivity.
Les Sindacalistes is a wonderful route, also with a few chipped holds. I think that it is a pitch that is worth climbing, because different from the same grade routes in Italy, and not only. A few moves are very hazardous and difficult. The result is a continuous and complex sequence, rich of technical and tactic components that valorize the global quality of the route.
Cristian Brenna