Pietro Vidi, 22 years old, a strong Italian climber known for his bouldering achievements (numerous 8Cs, notably the first ascent of one of the hardest boulders on the peninsula with “Flow State” 8C+ in Val Daone) has just announced he two days ago having completed the 3rd ascent of “Tribe”, the extreme trad route liberated by Jacopo Larcher in Cadarese in 2019. Until then, only the inevitable James Pearson had succeeded in climbing this ridge, renowned as one of the most difficult trad routes in the world. We went to ask him a few questions.
– Can you briefly introduce yourself?
I mainly do bouldering. I was competing, but I switched to bouldering in a natural environment, especially last season, with a few climbs. I discovered trad a year ago when I did a long route in Val Bavona, so I was doing a little bit of it, but nothing very hard until then.
– Since when were you trying “Tribe”? How was the process?
In May I was in Cadarese, I went down in to watch the catches and the movements. I was immediately enthusiastic and wanted to come back as quickly as possible. Conditions returned around the end of September, and I was quickly able to make big progress. After two or three days of trying, I was able to do the route in two parts, and I thought I would get there quickly. I started to try chaining from the bottom, but I realized that it was much harder than I had imagined from the ground: especially the fact of placing my protections bothered me quite a bit. I realized that the second crux is really conditional, for me it is also super technical, and it wasn’t easy to find how to position myself correctly. Then, the route got wet, almost for a month, and it was complicated to try it because on more than half of my sessions it was really soaked. Without these few days of trying when it wasn’t dry and I wasn’t able to climb much, I’d say it took me 8 or 9 sessions.
– Jacopo talks about a block route and conditions, what do you think? And as a blocker, what do you think of this crux in compression on the edge?
The route starts with a 7a slab, it’s quite chill but it’s not very well protected. You put 2 jammers at 5 meters which are quite unreliable, and which in my opinion jump in the event of a fall. You have some tricky movements close to the first ledge about 8 meters high, so you really don’t want to fall. Then you put two good jammers to be able to do the first block, then two more good protections for the main crux with a rest. The crux is super technical, under conditions, on flat holds. It took me two days to stack it so I think it’s relatively hard, but it’s mostly very condis and sensational. You need to be 100% fresh when you get there. I really struggled in the last two movements where I fell about 10 times.
– Do you have any other trad projects for the future?
I think I’ll stay more focused on bouldering, but I’ve already checked out “Bon Voyage” in Annot, and it’s pretty high on my list, with maybe “Meltdown” next fall when I’m in back to Yosemite. My trad projects are in any case planned on my list!
Photos : Camilla Moroni
Pietro Vidi, 22 years old, a strong Italian climber known for his bouldering achievements (numerous 8C’s, including the first ascent of one of the hardest boulders on the peninsula with “Flow State” 8C+ at Val Daone), announced two days ago that he had made the 3rd ascent of “Tribe”, the extreme trad route freed by Jacopo Larcher at Cadarese in 2019. Until then, only the inevitable James Pearson had successfully climbed this arete, reputed to be one of the most difficult trad routes in the world. We asked him few questions.
– Can you briefly introduce yourself?
I do mainly bouldering, mainly comps, but now I’m switching a bit to outdoors. I focused mainly on outdoor bouldering last season, with couple of hard ones. I lately discovered trad climbing, one year ago when I did a multi-pitch in Val bavona. Last year I did a bit of that, but not really hard stuff.
– How long have you been trying out Tribe? How did the process go until your repeat?
In May, I was in Cadarese, I decided to rappel out the route and to touch the holds and check out the moves. I immediately got hooked and wanted to come back as soon as possible. Conditions came late september I think, I could soon make some really good progress like splitting the routes in half, in 2 or 3 days of tries. I thought it would be go very quick. So I started to give it lead attempts pretty soon, but I discovered it was way harder than I expected from the ground, like placing the protections got me a little pumped. I mainly discovered the second crux is crazy condition dependent, for me it was also super technical, so it was hard to figure out the right body positions. Then the route got wet, during a month. I couldn’t try it everyday. More than half of my sessions it was wet, but I’d say 8 or 9 good weather sessions were needed to climb it, not counting the wet ones where I couldn’t climb a lot.
– Jacopo talks about a very bouldery route with conditions, can you confirm this? What do you think of the difficulty of the compression crux with the arete, as you do a lot of bouldering?
You start with a 7a slab, it’s pretty chill but not very-well protected at all. You place 2 nuts at round 5 meters which are pretty shitty. I think they will pop if you went to fall. You do some delicates moves close to the first ledge at 8 meters or so, so in this section you don’t want a fall, then you place 2 very good cams, you do the first boulder and you place other 2 really good cams to protect the main crux, then you go to the rest, and here is the real crux, a super weird technical condition dependent slopy holds boulder. It took me 2 days to link the whole boulder so I guess it’s pretty hard, but also crazy condition dependent and position dependent. You need to be hundred purcent fresh when you get there. I really struggled in the last 2 moves, whre I fell the 10 last times I think.
– Any extreme trad projects in the future?
I think I will manly focus on bouldering but I already checked out « Bon Voyage » in Annot, and it’s for sure very high on the list, and also « Meltdown », may be next fall when I go back to Yosemite. Hard trad projects are definitely high on the list!
Photos : Camilla Moroni
