Elettroshock - 400m 8a (7a obbl.) - Picco Luigi Amedeo, Val Torrone, Italy
While the cries of the fight against bolts are still echoing through the valleys and granite walls of Val di Mello, one August day in the mid-1990s a sharp, continuous noise begins to cut through the silence of one of the steepest and most imposing walls of Val Torrone. It is the unmistakable whine of a cordless drill, most likely biting into the rock of the upper Val Masino for the very first time.
Behind the drill is the team of Fazzini, Riva and Gianola, who have envisioned an entire line built around a gigantic granite flake detached from the wall, some 200 metres above the ground. Their goal is simple: to draw the most direct and vertical line possible, almost straight up the centre of the face, reach that enormous flake, climb it, and eventually emerge at the top of the peak, all while pushing free climbing as far as possible.
And so Elettroshock was born.
The most physical route of the Masino Trilogy (together with La Spada nella Roccia and Delta Minox), this route is a wild mixture of sparsely protected granite slabs and cracks that are either well protected or can be protected, but demand a serious amount of power.
The very first pitch, supposedly the easiest of the route, is enough to wake you up: 50 metres of 6a+ slab, with a single lonely piton about 10 metres below the belay and virtually no chance of placing anything else. Fortunately, from there on the route gets harder on the arms, but considerably easier on the mind.
After this excellent wake-up call for the mind, the route continues for another two pitches of slab before reaching a pronounced overhang split by the faintest hint of a flared crack. It is along this crack that the hardest pitch of the route was drawn, currently graded 8a.
The following pitch starts with some finger-crack climbing, followed by a nice mandatory move on a chickenhead and then a rather imaginative pendulum to reach the good flake-crack system some ten metres to the left.
Another couple of forearm-killing layback pitches finally lead to the famous gigantic flake hanging halfway up the wall: “La Foglia” - The Leaf.
The Leaf is climbed in three magnificent pitches, entirely on trad gear. Try not to worry too much about the occasional creaking and slight movement of the enormous flake as you climb on it. It has been hanging there for quite a few years now and has already seen a fair number of climbers. The chances of it deciding to come down precisely while you are on it are, statistically speaking, pretty low.
Unfortunately, once past the flake, the route is far from over. The final pitches are sustained, demanding and not always easy to protect.
Once you finally reach the top, take a moment to enjoy the sun (if there is any) and, above all, get some rest. The descent from Val Torrone is going to be long… very long…
But look at it this way: all that walking will give your mind plenty of time to process what you have just accomplished.
Pitch Summary: 6a+, 7b+, 6b+, 8a, 7a, 7b, 6a+, 7b+, 6b, 7a+, 7a, 5c
Gear: 60mt ropes, 1 rack of cams from 0,3 to 4 BD
For more info: Solo Granito Volume 1, Versante Sud