Nicolas Favresse repeated  Greenspit  a contender for the hardest trad crack in Europe. At the end of two days of effort Nico managed to repeat the route on his 7th try placing the protection on the send.

The route consisted on a 12-meter roof crack with lots of tricky crack climbing moves mixing hand, fists and finger jams. The route was first redpointed by the strong Swiss crack specialist, Didier Berthod, and features in the movie First ascents.

In Nico's word:  This route is truly fantastic and very unique for European climbing. I can't believe I am the first person to repeat this. It's so classic!



foto by © Bernardo Gimenez

It was a perfect send. The day was over but there was still just enough light to give a very last try. I was already feeling a little bit tired but I wanted to give it all a last chance. When I arrived at the crux the right piece of pro slipped of my hands and fell to the ground while trying to place it. For a moment I thought it was over then I looked on my harness and saw my last pro I hesitated for a while then turned to my belayer and said: I' ll just go for it!  I placed my very last pro (making it impossible to protect the end of the route) without being able to see how it looked because of the darkness. And I went with my last resources and the chance to hit the ground if I fell at the end of the crux.  Although the route is normally very safe for a traditional climb. 



foto by © Bernardo Gimenez



foto by © Bernardo Gimenez

A few days later, partnered by Sean Villanueva, Nicolas did the first free repeat of Itaca nel sole 5 pitches of (5, 6a+, 6c, 8a, 8b) The route was first all freed climbed by Christian Brenna.
 
It's a very nice technical challenge of beautiful climbing  Nico says.

Also on the hard pitches the protections are all fixed so it s not really a trad I had a great time exploring Orco valley mixing it all from bouldering, sport climbing to trad and multi pitch and there is still so much to explore.    



foto by © Bernardo Gimenez

The photographer is Bernardo Gimenez - http://www.bernardogimenez.com

Source:

Source website Nicolas Favresse