Elias Iagnemma: “bouldering makes me feel alive, I love being in tune with nature, the smell of moss and cleaning rocks"

Elias Iagnemma has been climbing since the age of twelve, thanks to his uncle. In 2009, after the earthquake in L'Aquila, his home town, his climbing activities came to halt because all the local gyms were closed and Elias, having lost his home, was forced to move to Switzerland with his uncle and the rest of his family. And so, he also gave up climbing competitions for two years. He later returned to Italy and began climbing again at the age of sixteen: it was at this point that he realised he wanted to build his life around this sport. In recent years, he has specialised in outdoor bouldering which, he says, thrills him more than indoor competitions, which he finds stressful. Today, at the age of twenty-seven, in addition to climbing, opening up new bouldering areas is his passion. He is particularly attached to an area in Abruzzo, in Tintorale, near Teramo, where there are lines from the fifth grade up to 8c+; this is also where Ganesh is located, an 8c+ boulder, currently his best performance. For Elias, the outdoors means the chance to spend long hours in contact with nature: performance is something that comes from being in tune with the environment and with the rock face itself. An introvert, Elias prefers to climb with people he knows and trusts, who share his passion. He also provides remote training to enthusiasts of this discipline as well as being the owner of a climbing gym in central Italy.

Elias, what project are you focused on at the moment?

I'm in Finland and I'm trying Burden Of Dreams, the first 9a boulder in the world, the hardest problem that exists, which has only two repetitions. A stone with six movements. This is my third trip; on the previous ones, I had the opportunity to try the block and then train at home on specific steps. I'm very optimistic; I'm just waiting for the right conditions for a climb. It's a very important boulder for me: I decided to invest most of my time and training on it. Staying in Finland involves a lot of sacrifices: you have to live in a van, the weather is highly variable, and staying focused on a single objective is sometimes not easy. But it's an activity that I love and it motivates me to push myself to the limit. At first, I thought Burden Of Dreams would be too difficult for me. But then I thought long and hard and... I realise I'm the kind of person who doesn't give up after a defeat. Indeed, for me, failures have always been a starting point rather than an ending,  lessons in how to improve myself. When I returned to Finland to attempt once more to climb the boulder, from the first day I managed to solve all the individual moves, including the first, which is considered the most difficult: now I can complete them as often as four times in the same day, meaning I have several chances to succeed. Then, there is the last movement, which is not very difficult but is very complex.

Among the different climbing disciplines, why did you choose outdoor bouldering?

It's the discipline I do best in: I have strong fingers and considerable strength but, more importantly, being in contact with the rock face makes me feel alive. For several years I also did rope climbing and I've done routes up to 9a+, but I was never been a resistant climber and so always stuck to short, bouldery pitches. But leading never gave me the same thrill that I feel climbing a boulder; you are always tied to someone or something: to your climbing partner, to the rope, to the harness or to the quickdraws. On the other hand, on Burden Of Dreams, I will be alone, independent and in direct contact with the rock. Unlike leading, bouldering offers greater freedom: all you need are shoes, chalk, brushes and some crashpads. Bouldering is also more immediate, physical and dynamic than rope climbing, where when you fall you have to wait a while before trying again. On top of that, I love cleaning stones, it gives me a unique contact with nature, I like to smell the moss and earth, sensations that I don't experience with rope .

You like inventing, creating and opening new lines. How do you find the inspiration to imagine a new line?

In bouldering, each stone has its own shape, and therefore manages to give me a different ideas. The aesthetics of the line are subjective: what I love most is cleaning rocks to find the lines . I usually only focus on the stones that strike me: geometrically perfect, or very rounded, or angular, high, very overhanging, with minimal sockets. I always try to find the line that inspires me the most. Burden Of Dreams, for example, for me is a king line: it's a panel, forty degrees, with only the holds needed to climb it. You can't invent any other way. Every movement is a mandatory step. For me, this is bouldering perfection.

You said that all your best performances happened not when you were in top form, but when you were relaxed, and with low expectations. What has climbing taught you over the years?

The mind can play tricks on you. It is better to be slightly less fit but well focused on what you are doing, rather than super fit but focused on what comes next. In bouldering, when attempting challenges at height, you need to be extremely focused, concentrating on the moment. You must pay maximum attention to every single movement: there are no pauses during which you can rest and consider what's next, as happens with rope climbing. There were times when I thought I would never be able to climb a route and yet, after spending hours and hours making attempts, my skin in tatters, in the end, with the right mindset, I managed to pass. So, I realised that, sometimes, it's not a question of physical constraints but of mental approach .

When choosing a project, how important is the appeal of the route itself, as compared to, say, achieving a record and the recognition that comes from that? 

At this point in my life, I'm trying not to think about the future; I try to live in the moment, without worrying about what the sponsors expect. In this new journey with La Sportiva, I think I have found people who fully understand me and want to support me, not for performance or for social media, but for my vision. 

You mentioned that it's nice to be able to break away from prevailing trends. What do you mean, exactly?

For many climbers, performance is all that counts: I think it's an important aspect, but only the tip of the iceberg, I like the part that comes before. I love discussing the process in all its forms, starting from cleaning the stone. I would like to be known not only for my performance but for the values I embody and for having transmitted something to climbing enthusiasts. Often, people only watch the video showing the moment the block is closed, but they ignore all the work that went into getting to that result.

What are the reasons that led you to join the La Sportiva family and which values do you share with the Val di Fiemme company?

Ever since I was small, I climbed using La Sportiva products, and it has always been a dream to one day be supported by the Trentino brand. So when this opportunity came, I didn't want to miss it! The technical material has always been of excellent quality; furthermore, the people who work for the brand understand what outdoor bouldering means to me, espouse my cause of clearing new areas and understand the importance of giving other people a climbing opportunity that wasn't there before.

Does climbing mean solitude or sharing?

I have always shared everything I do and will continue to do so: I love the fact that people climb the blocks I clean and feel the same emotions as I did; I don't do it just for my own ego. At the same time, I think it is important to educate people about preserving rocks and nature. Unfortunately, sometimes, due to the mass appeal of climbing, woods are destroyed, as are boulders. It would be enough for every climber to adopt simple behaviours to avoid environmental degradation: clean the sockets, leave the place clean, collect cigarette butts and waste paper, try to walk only on the path that has been marked out. In fact, when significant numbers of people go wandering through the forest, the moss all around is ruined. It is not fair that those who come after us can no longer admire the places as they were, just because a few people behaved badly. When I clean a block I try to remove as little as possible, I don't eliminate all the moss, since it has a life of its own: you should try to impact nature as little as possible.

What is your list of good resolutions for 2024?

My most important project is Burden Of Dreams, but I have also been trying an important challenge in Italy for two years, and I have made some good attempts: it is located at the Barbara refuge, in Piedmont, and I gave it the name 'Exodia'. The boulder is divided into two sections, a first 8c+ boulder and a second 8b boulder: combining the two is really difficult, it could even be the first 9a in Italy. In the summer, however, I plan to return to Rocklands, South Africa, where there are two projects that appeal to me a lot: 'Livin' Large' and 'The Finnish Line', both 8c, incredible especially for their eight-metre height and perfect lines. Next winter, I would like to return to Ticino and have another go at 'Off the Wagon Low' and 'Epyra', both 8c+; then, I'd like to go to America, where I've never been, and try 'Sleepwalker', an 8c+ located in Red Rocks. In the meantime, I would like to enhance two bouldering areas, Tintorale, in Abruzzo, and Scorace, in Sicily, where there are still lots of rocks to give life to: a wonderful place, where climbing is developing now: I'd like to help make this movement grow.