27 May Giuliano Cameroni sends it!
After a six-year process, the Swiss climber sends this legendary 8C+ and discovers the inner dimension of climbing!
Off the Wagon Low! The first 8C+ in Ticino, sent in November 2018 by Shawn Raboutou as a low start of the already legendary Off the Wagon. After him we had to wait more than a year to attend the repetitions of Jimmy Webb and Daniel Woods, respectively in February and March 2020. A line that has always been in the sights of Giuliano Cameroni and that clearly could not miss in the personal history of a climber who has become the current symbol of bouldering in Ticino.
This line in Val Bavona has become for him a real inner journey and not just a great ascent, after six years fighting hard and staying strong to maintain the will and determination to continue the battle.
In the end Giuliano made it, obtaining the fourth ascent of this boulder also in a purer version, starting from the same holds but stand, after removing the iconic cart that for years gave the name and fame to this line. , but which actually constituted an obstacle to a more natural version.
Cameroni gave the news of his ascent on Instagram, where he reported a post full of contents (which we report entirely below) in which he describes how this long process has turned into an opportunity to discover how climbing can become a journey richer than the pure achievement of an extreme realization.
“Finally! A true beauty and a very long 6 years process full of ups and downs.
After spending a certain amount of time under the same bloc new feelings start to appear: on one side you’re obviously frustrated, especially if you got very close, but on the other side there’s a deeper feeling of connection to the place and the rock, and it starts to become a little love story. You start to realize every detail of the boulder and how the grains and the quality of the rock exactly are. The day of the send, a sudden change happened: I was sitting underneath as always when I realized that I had a choice between having fun or desperately trying again. This realization put me in a great state of flow free of negative vibes and fear of failing. Right after I missed the final jug, which was my highpoint, and instead of getting mad I started laughing. I knew I was approaching the boulder the right way, so I stayed calm and happy. The next try I climbed it. Everything connected and all of the sudden I was standing on the top. A great sense of joy pervaded me and I remember wondering how it could happen so effortlessly when I had tried it for so long.
This boulder showed me that climbing can be much more than getting to the top and also more than the process with the goal of sending. Climbing is an expression of the deep connection between us and nature, between our soul and the stillness of the moment. It’s very similar to Yoga, that’s why the perfect motion is found in the present moment. Only here, when all our energies are focused on what we are doing, we can climb our best, we can feel what our body can do and what move works for it. In this timeless dimension we realize our true potential, we realize that we can climb harder than what seemed possible and therefore break the boundaries of our limits. We also realize that climbing is a form of meditation, a direct way to find zen, a bridge between the physical and the non-physical.”
Let’s now wait for the video on the Mellow channel!
