Cody Roth and the Derby Della Madonnina...

Cody, La Sportiva athlete and blogger, shared with us his recent climbing exploits and his (not so) secret passion.

It's no secret that La Sportiva athlete Cody Roth, is a die hard Inter Milan tifosi. Sadly, Inter have been going through a bad patch of form, losing five games in a row... However, before everything went pear shaped for Inter, they won the notorious Derby Della Madoninna, 1-0 thanks to a stellar goal from Diego Milito. On that same day, half way around the world, Roth found himself at a cliff known as, "The Tunnel", in southern New Mexico. It was either climb or watch the game, and Roth, deliberated, but opted to climb. The route at hand was a long standing project, bolted by one of Roth's mentors, and one of New Mexico's most influential climbers, Lance Hadfield. 

As fate would have it, the gamble paid off, seeing as how Roth sent, and upon getting signal on the 4G, Roth discovered Inter had won! Thus, the line, "Derby Della Madoninna", was born. The route weighs in at 8c+ making it tentatively New Mexico's hardest. In addition to Derby, over the last months at the same crag, Roth has also put up, "Volver De La Belle Epoque" (8c), and the awesome albeit one move wonder, simply known as, "The Thompson" (8a+) (see photo). On his rest days, Roth has also been testing our mountain running line on his longboard, in Albuquerque's Embudo Arroyo, check out the vid...

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