Cerro Piergiorgio - North West face
5. Giordani-Maspes attempt
In late 1995 Italians Maurizio Giordani and Gian Luca Maspes attempted a beautiful line in the center of the NW face. Using extensive fixed ropes they spent 5 days working on the route, with help from Felice Boselli, Giuseppe Bonfanti, Dario Cabas and Francesco Margola.
They started up just right of the obvious left leaning dihedral managing and climbed 21 pitches (600 meters) to a high point 200 meters below the summit ridge. Hoping to return the following year to complete the route they left all the fixed ropes in place. Twelve months later the fixed ropes were so frayed that they proved unusable, so they gave up their hopes of completing the route, abandoning all the frayed ropes in place. The section climbed involved more than 60 hook moves to link discontinuous flakes and cracks.
Initially Giordani and Maspes reported this attempt as a new route, giving it a name and all, although they had been nowhere close to reaching the summit ridge or an existing route. They claimed to have resolved the main difficulties (“il grande muro è risolto e salito...”), and thought that the line could be considered a new route. They later on explained that they had decided to name their attempted line to remember what for them was a very positive experience and to be able to transmit this experience to all those who love mountains and big adventures... These claims by Giordani and Maspes generated a heated debate in Italy, see Alp magazine 129 p. 6 (Sarchi) and Alp 138 p. 91 (Giordani).
In 2006 Maspes returned with Elia Andreola, Kurt Astner, Hervé Barmasse and Yuri Parimbelli. They managed to reclimb 11 pitches before they retreated.
Giordani and Maspes used 1 set of camalots to #4 (1 set?), over 20 pitons, hooks and stoppers. They left in place 25 pitons, 5 progression bolts and some belay bolts.
Bibliography. High magazine 164 p. 29-30; Alp magazine 132 p. 22-25; High magazine 165 p. 40; High magazine 171 p. 80; Rivista della Montagna 187 p.10-11; Annales GHM 95/96 p. 50; Annales GHM 96/97 p. 56; CAI-Rivista Mensile 1996/6 p. 68-71; Lo Scarpone 1996/10 p. 7. |
