On the fourth day a roped party of Basque boys who had been climbing, and who were at least psychologically keeping him company, decided to retreat, leaving Stefano alone on all of Eternal Flame. It is a 650-meter route, with difficulties up to 7c+, recognized as one of the most famous and beautiful big walls around the world. Stefano mostly free climbed along the mixed pitches and up to 6c+.
The key pitches, 7b and up, he climbed mostly by aid, while on the 7a pitches he tried free climbing, resorting, however, at least to resting due to the conditions of the wall, often with wet or ice-clogged cracks, and the rarefied air of 6000mt.
Yes, because Nameless Tower is 6251 meters high.
While Stefano was climbing, Juan and Tommi, the photographers from Big Rock Media House, were at the base of the wall: the two, in addition to documenting the climb with photos and video, made a spectacular “delivery” to the wall via drone, sending Stefano an escort gri-gri after his belayer accidentally came off his harness!
During such a large and powerful mountain adventure, anything can and does happen: ropes getting stuck, lost gear, the joys of small steps forward, and the frailties that the mountain lays bare for you. A climb could be just the story of how it went, a sum of adventures and misadventures, strengths and weaknesses, peppered with a few anecdotes.
But it is the emotions experienced, the baggage with which we return home and how we are changed, that make each mountain experience unique and valuable.
We tried to get inside Stefano head to understand from his words if and how Eternal Flame changed him.
Expectations and reality: what were you looking for and what do you take home from Eternal Flame?
“The only expectation that unfortunately did not go the way I wanted was definitely the duration of the climb: I knew I could do it in 3-4 days, but unfortunately because of the weather I slowed down the pace drastically.I still preferred to hold out and “bring home” the climb because I knew that if I went down to wait for another window, maybe that would never come. And even if it had come, I might not have had the motivation to do everything I had done up to there again.
Once again, after a great adventure I take home a lot of awareness: awareness of how my head can make a difference in difficult or stressful situations, but also awareness that this experience will be another important piece to add to my technical background.
However, I also take home a lot of physical and mental fatigue. It is always difficult to gear up again after an expedition but this time it is more so than usual: the desire to get back to pre-departure fitness is great, but I still feel mentally drained.”
Risks and fears: did you have any recurring thoughts or fears before setting off and during the climb that something could go wrong?
“Before leaving, I thought to myself: the only things that must not happen are to break the portaledge and to lose the insurer.Obviously both of those things happened!
On such a climb continuing in precarious conditions, sleeping poorly and self belaying by an improvised method weighed heavily on my overall fatigue. During the ascent I must say that I was very focused and never felt afraid.
However, when I got to the top, I relaxed and reconnected with reality for a moment and was a little afraid for the long abseil descent ahead. I was afraid that my ropes would get stuck in some strange way that I would never be able to solve again.
At night in the portaledge I was thinking a lot about Silvia (Silvia Loreggian, Stefano's partner, who was engaged at the same time in the attempted ascent without supplementary oxygen of K2 along the Sperone degli Abruzzi). During the day, in the few unperturbed moments, I could catch a glimpse, far off toward the horizon, of K2: I knew that she was coming to terms with her difficulties as well, but I hoped she was thinking of me as I was thinking of her and that some positive energy would manage to reach us both.”
Is there any mountaineer who has particularly inspired you in your solo climbs?
“Renato Casarotto was definitely a great one who inspired me: when I started climbing his solitaires around the world made me dream.David Lama represented and still represents the ultimate expression of what mountaineering is for me: taking the technical gesture to high and unexplored walls, sometimes soloing. For me it is the ultimate.
Colin Haley, another Scarpa world acquaintance, was one of the few people who knew about this project of mine. Not long ago I was secretly beginning to dream of a solo repeat of the Goretta Pillar at Fitz Roy in Patagonia (opened by Renato Casarotto himself solo in 1979). Colin recently completed it (January 17 to 19, 2023) and so I realized that if I wanted to make those dreams a reality I had to wake up.
In order to realize those plans I had to devote myself to them 100%, and so I did.
As much as I have never tried to find out his “tricks,” or thought of odd questions to ask him, the chance to get to know him better and share lighthearted training sessions together during the last winter gave me a better understanding of his approach to the mountains and mountaineering. Although this is a bit different from my vision, I consider him one of the top exponents of solo climbing in alpine terrain and have a lot of respect and admiration for his ability to move so fast in all types of terrain and solo.”
What do you see in your future? Have you taken a fancy to solo climbing or do you think you have “given” and will you feel like sharing some projects with fellow climbers?
“This trip, even though I already knew it, made me realize how important Silvia is in my life and how much I miss her when I am in the mountains without her.I have a lot of plans in my head, I would like to try to push myself a little higher in the Himalayan terrain, not necessarily alone, but for now I want to enjoy some pure and healthy rock climbing with Silvia.
In November we will be back in Yosemite again with some free climbing projects, and then we will dive back into the winter season of work and training in Chamonix.
I have no idea what the future holds for me, but I definitely need a lot of time to pass before I hang alone on the wall again!”