Drumtime for Riccardo “Sky” Scarian

Great period of form for the Finance officer from Trentino, Riccardo Scarian. At 4.32 pm on 14 March 2006, Sky manages to climb this fantastic line on the crag of Fonzaso. Planetmountain’s Vinicio Stefanello and the athlete himself, tell us how things went.
Oscar Durbiano

Drumtime
One achievement attracts another, this is how Riccardo Scarian, fresh from his recent success on Bain de Sang centred the first ever ascent of Drumtime, his 40 movement project which links, and one could say “straightens”, the first part of the “Gladiatore” (8c+) with the second part of “Diabloluna” (8c) on the sunny and winter crag of Fonsazo- in the province of Belluno on the state road that links Feltre to the town of Primiero. Drumtime cost Riccardo “Sky” Scarian a long courtship, with added variations, due to the breaking of three holds. Finally though, during 14 March the great day arrived and even the slabby and beautiful Drumtime allowed itself to be tamed. The smooth overhanging slates marked by a bulge, the overhang and then again the upper section with the uncertainty of the lunge on the crux move resolved itself almost like a magic spell. So now, as in all magic spells which have been revealed, one has to think of a number, that is the reference grade for whoever has the will to solve this great riddle. Riccardo launches the idea of verifying the proposal: Drumtime according to him is 9a. A really great number (in Italy there are only a handful of routes with this grade), but which on its own cannot explain the magic of this route, which always happens in climbing, a number cannot descrribe a route.
Vinicio Stefanello

9a at Fonzaso
For Fred Nicole it was a time to dream (Dreamtime), for Calibba in his area of Meschia it was time to drink beer (Drinktime), and for me it was time to smoke (Drumtime), named after the famous Dutch tobacco. Drumtime is in fact the name of my last achievement on the sunny crag of Fonzaso, a route which required alot of effort on my part. The route is none other than a link between the first part of Gladiator (8c+) and the second part of Diaboluna (8c); this line is probably the most logical since it is straight up, while Diaboluna and the Gladiator form an X crossing each other half way.
I started climbing on Drumtime straight after having climbed the Gladiatore and only after a few attempts I felt that I could climb it quickly. But, alas, Manolo during one of his attempts on Diaboluna broke a hold on the crux move on the upper part of the route; from that moment onwards that crux move drove me mad, going from an almost static move to a jump from the bidoigt to the edge, which is now 30 cm higher up. But in the meantime the heat arrived…and for Fonzaso where you can climb only during optimal conditions a few months a year, it was time to abandon camp. During the next season two more holds broke off, this time thanks to Juri, making the game even more interesting, but more difficult to put into practice. I noticed straight away that the difficulty had changed, and this motivated me even more, even if the chain was still far away. After about thirty attempts, spread out over four months, I finally managed to pass the rope through the chain. All this happened in an almost unexpected day, last Tuesday when my hand stayed on that final edge, where five times before I had deluded myself into thinking that I had made it! I felt a sense of incredulity, but as soon as I had realised that my hand had stayed on that hold, a mixture of adrenaline and joy invaded me!

Drumtime in numbers
Movements: the route consists of about forty movements, of which the first twenty five are intense, and after a not very good moment of decontraction, you move onto the second part, where you are so pumped that you no longer feel so magical.
Style of the route: mainly requiring finger strength but also needing a bit of arm.
The difficulty: I thought about it a lot and after adding things up, even if I am not very good at mathematics my conclusion is the following: if nowadays Diaboluna is an affirmed 8c, and the Gladiator is 8c+, considering my climb of Bain de sang in a few attempts, world level reference 9a (now maybe 8c+/9a) I have to conclude that Drumtime is 9a! Now the word goes to whoever is keen to repeat the route.
Riccardo Scarian