Caroline Ciavaldini repeats Greenspit (F8b/+), Valle dell’Orco, Italy
- Tuesday 5th November 2024
Caroline “Caro” Ciavaldini has made the third female ascent of Greenspit, the overhanging crack testpiece in Valle dell’Orco, Italy.
Caroline Ciavaldini, James Pearson’s wife and collectively OnceUponAClimb, set herself a no small target of learning to crack climb in 2024 with the specific goal of repeating the famous Greenspit. After considerable setbacks along the way, Caro successfully top-out last Sunday making the third female ascent of the route.
Caroline dedicated much of this year to training for the route. Building her own garden ‘crack-machine’, so she could train at home whilst looking after the kids, and even spent some time in the world-renowned crack cellar of ‘Wide-Boy’ Tom Randall, in the UK.
Initial attempts didn’t go according to plan and she faced a major setback when she tore her hamstring while trying the route in May of this year. Recovering from that injury Caroline returned this autumn to try Greenspit once again. She shares her thoughts on the climb:
"At the end of September, I started trying Greenspit again, after a couple of earlier sessions in May of this year, when I actually tore my hamstring trying the route. Coming back this Autumn was almost like starting again, as I’d forgotten most of my beta. This was my fourth session back on the route this season and it was the same game as every time, I didn’t think I was going to do it today. I felt under pressure, I felt grumpy, I warmed-up and it didn’t feel great. I didn’t think I was ready. I realised I had to change my mindset and just enjoy the climbing and appreciate I had James and the kids there with me.”
Her first go was encouraging, but…: “On my first go, I managed to make a new high point before falling. I’ve never had two good tries in one day before on Greenspit, so I wasn’t that optimistic about my second go. It’s my first real route of this type and it was so nice to feel almost like a beginner again. I loved the process of trying to improve on these jams and I used visualisation a lot for this route, especially for the first section (up to the rest), which should actually be relatively straightforward but which I found particularly hard. I really had to take it move by move, only focussing on the current jam and not thinking beyond that. Not even really thinking about doing the whole route, but just getting through the next move.”
After a rest it was time to get back at it: “On my second go of the day, I made it through the first section, to the rest. Something I’d never done twice in one day before now. At the rest, I was able to clear my mind, I knew the second section like the back of my hand, as I’d spent many recent nights visualising how I’d climb it. So, I just let my body do what it knew how to do. I still had the main cruxes ahead of me but I just went at it with nothing really in my mind and the next thing I know I’ve arrived at the rest after the last crux. Just a couple of movements left to do and I didn’t want to fluff it.”
With only the final few moves remaining and success in sight, Caroline’s nerves started to get hold of her forcing her to fight back: “Now I started to feel a bit of pressure. I had made a choice to protect myself with just a single ‘friend’ for this last section, which I’d placed rather hurridly. Images of this piece ripping and me taking a ground-fall infront of my young kids flashed through my mind momentarily. I managed to block it out and make those last few moves. I’d done it!”
Caroline sums up how she feels about the route now it’s in the bag: “Overall, it’s been a really cool journey. The process of building my ‘crack machine’ (with the help of my neighbours), training on it, perfecting my technique and working through the pain barrier to learn something new and climb this iconic route, with my whole family watching, has been pretty amazing!”