"The Big Slamm" | F.A. Elias Iagnemma

The images flow fast, the music excited. The boy's face is illuminated by the yellowish light of the screen. The screen alternates between the world's best boulderers on passages destined to become icons. It would be nice to be like them. It would be nice to have such an important boulder close to home. It would be nice to write a page of Italian and, why not, world bouldering. That boy in front of the screen continued to climb and dream for years, looking for his own route among the many that climbing offers. Initially, he turned his attention to competitions.

Of course, the area where he was born did not help. The gyms to be able to best interpret the motions of modern competition problems are far away, and keeping up with the times is not easy. However, the first satisfactions arrive, the first Italian Cup finals. The first podiums. The first time in the Italian national team. Teammates, sometimes clubbing and sometimes being clubbed, all agree: although that boy is a athlet of excellence at the Italian level, elsewhere he could excel at the international level. But then-where? The rock beckons to that boy. What if that was the route? A few boulders, a few routes, a few FAs. The first 8B, the first 8B+, the first 9a... In the process, the electrocution. The boulder is his route. Classics fall one after another, until a masterpiece that alone is worth a career: Gioia.

Discovered in Varazze by Marco Bagnasco and later freed by Christian Core, Gioia is the first 8C+ in bouldering history. Its mix of tiny indentations and elusive feet is a perfect fitting for that boy's style, which definitely and legibly enters among the hot names of big boulderers. Elias Iagnemma is no longer a guy behind the screen, he is one of the guys on the screen. From there on (but really from before, only no one knew it) Elias divides his activity into two logs, which run side by side like train tracks. On the one hand, he travels all over the world to repeat reference passages. On the other, he stays true to his boyhood dream: to find that landmark passage close to home. The way seems to be mapped out with the rediscovery of an underdeveloped area.

Over the years there have been several climbers who have taken turns at Tintorale, but the potential seems to tend toward infinity. If there are the easy lines, there are almost certainly hard, but also very hard, even impossible steps. After the first few high-level FAs, which help Elias understand not only how much the forest can give, but more importantly how much care it needs. Its soft sandstone is ready to welcome climbers, but it must be treated with kid gloves. In parallel, the travels continue, especially to Lapland. For right there, on an isolated and perfect boulder, lies one of the most famous lines in the world. Years ago, Nalle Hukkataival began designing this line that seemed almost impossible to climb. Few holds, few feet, wide movements--the purest essence of bouldering. When it seemed the games were over, Nalle freed herself of all weight and climbed the few meters of the Lappnor Project in a solitary night session.

Thus was born Burden of Dreams, the first 9A in history. On a similar night, when the games seemed to be over, Elias repeated Burden of dreams, confirming the grade and becoming the first Italian to climb a passage of that difficulty. Tintorale continued to grow and by the end of 2023 had already borne decidedly tasty fruit. After the initial fear in removing the thin veil of moss that hid it, Elias was able to interpret the shapes of this sitting elephant. The first ascent came soon after, and the name could be none other than Ganesh. For this deity, who remains unrepeated today, Elias proposed the grade of 8C+. Meanwhile, that bow tucked into a treeless hole still waited. This rock grants very few holds. Its location then makes it a victim of a hard-to-find condition. In its simplicity it perfectly embodies the spirit of extreme bouldering, a difficult equation made up of very few values that are extremely difficult to quail with each other. On a perfect day in January 2025, Elias publishes a photo of himself hugging the edge, exhausted from a fight to the last hope. When everything seems impossible, magic happens. That boy's dream in front of the screen no longer expresses itself with a would be beautiful. Now it is.

January 2025, Tintorale: Elias Iagnemma, The Big Slamm, the first 9A on Italian soil.

Articolo: Alessandro Palma
Video: Alessandro Rinaldi, Matteo Iommi
Grafica da collezione: Giulia Rotondo