Stefano Ghisolfi makes FA of Excalibur (F9b+)

• Monday 6th February 2023

Stefano Ghisolfi has kicked off his 2023 season in style making the first ascent of Excalibur, his long-term project at Drena, Arco.

Graded F9b+, Excalibur is now Italy’s hardest sport route. Stefano Ghisolfi has been trying the project over the last two years or so along with other top climbers such as Will Bosi and Adam Ondra and Jacob Schubert. All have been seen in online videos attempting the project working together to refine the beta.

Bosi travelled to Italy to try Excalibur in December. Remarkably, Bosi managed to climb all the moves on the project on his first day and was even able to link sections together. Five days later, and at the end of his short visit to Italy, Will was just a single move away from doing the project in overlapping halves. With just 18 moves of what Will described as “pure power endurance” the short route is a similar length to that of Alphane, the Font 9A boulder that Bosi made the third ascent of last autumn. Will’s amazing progress on Excalibur speaks of Will’s overall power levels which are clearly running very high at the moment.

Adam Ondra wasn’t having quite as much luck trying Excalibur however. Last week he posted a new video of him trying a shortened version of the route. Jumping off an adjacent boulder, Ondra was trying to climb the top half of the route – that link alone Ondra speculated would be F9b itself. Ondra explained that his attempts on the route were pushing him towards using a crucial hold in a certain way which he felt was likely to cause a finger injury. “I am OK with the fact that certain routes will remain unclimbed for me” Ondra posted before wishing Ghisolfi and Bosi the best of luck going forwards.

Days later, Ghisolfi made the first ascent of the project, not by jumping in above the first crux but from the ground. Unsurprisingly, Ghisolfi has suggested that the grade is F9b+. As such it’s now the hardest route in Italy.

Originally bolted by Cristian Dorigatti and Morris Fontanari, Excalibur overhangs at 40 degrees and is Ghisolfi’s fourth route graded F9b+. Previously, Ghisolfi climbed Perfecto Mundo in Margalef, Spain 2018, after which came Change in Hanshallaren, Norway in 2020 and then Bibliographie at Ceuse, France in 2021.

Ghisolfi, talking to 8a.nu, suggested that a slightly lower start than that which he did would add a further 3 or 4 moves on. Ghisolfi is planning to return to try it that way next. Ghisolfi estimates that Excalibur took him between 20 and 30 sessions to climb.