Climb Interview Matteo della Bordella

‘The UK is a very varied training ground, and can prepare you for almost anything in climbing’

THIS PAGE: Matteo Della Bordello on Sangue e Magnesite (Blood and Chalk), 6c, at Cadarese in northern Italy. It was here that Matteo made his repuation as the prophet of modern Italian trad climbing with

his ascent of The Doors (E8 6c / 8a+), the awesome crackline he debolted and reclimbed on trad, highlighting the potential problems with bolting perfectly protectable trad lines. Matteo is passionate about trad climbing, and sees the UK as one the leading centres of excellence in this genre. RICKY FELDERER

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the climb interview

Lucia Prosino talks to

Matteo Della Bordella A country famous for explorers, travellers and independent minds, Italy has no shortage of pioneers in the vertical world. Yet it is not a place renowned for accomplished traditional climbers. Matteo Della Bordella is one exception.

Celebrated for debolting and reclimbing The Doors in Cadarese (E8 6c / 8a+), Matteo honed his trad skills in northern Italy before moving on to the Peak District to climb many of gritstone’s hard classics, and then to Yosemite, where he climbed Freerider (1000 m, 5.12d) last October, the famous route on El Capitan freed by the Huber brothers in 1998. He has also opened several arduous routes in the Wenden region of western Switzerland - Infinite Jest (550m, 8a+/b), Coelophysis, (670m, 8a), and Portami Via (270m 7c+). He has undertaken expeditions around the world, chiefly in Mexico, Greenland and Patagonia, where he is due to return, for a third time, to finish off the splendid route Die Another Day on the West Face of Torre Egger (950 meters done so far). With a masters degree in economics, Matteo is also the youngest member of the Italian Academic Alpine Club and has received the Riccardo Cassin prize twice for his accomplishments.

Here he tells us why he loves traditional climbing, and why he thinks British climbers are among the best in the world.

You onsighted the Via Attraverso il Pesce [The Fish) on the Marmolada with your father in 2005. Was he an important role model?

Yes, I started climbing with my dad when I was 13. I was really keen on putting my hands on the rock. My dad, though, hadn’t been climbing for years, but my eagerness convinced him to take me with him, and so we started off with some easy multi-pitch routes in the Alps.

This went on for about five years. Although I enjoyed climbing, I did not love it from the start.

The passion gradually grew, as I felt I wanted to climb harder and harder routes and look for new lines to climb. To do so I had to train and climb sport routes to improve my technique. As for my father, I’ve always considered him as my best partner rather than a role model: we were usually improving and climbing together, and swapping leads as a real team.

You then became a well-known climber in Italy. How did that happen?

Well, two key moments marked my early climbing career. The first one happened at the end of the summer in 2003: after having repeated classic routes in the Dolomites like Fram, 7c, and Specchio di Sara, also 7c on the Marmolada, I went to the Wenden region in Switzerland for the first time, together with my dad. We did one of the easiest multi-pitch routes, which I found really hard. Notwithstanding, I fell in love with the place immediately. I was raring to go back the following year and discover more. I decided I was going to climb all – or almost – the big routes in that region. I felt in unison with the rock and the big walls, so much so that I felt like home there.

That day something clicked and changed the way I perceived climbing, and my own climbing style.

The other key point in my career was the aforementioned Via Attraverso il Pesce in the Marmolada, which we climbed in 2005, one day before my 21st birthday. This is a legendary route which every climber who climbs at that level aims

to do. I onsighted it in one day: a success I hadn’t envisaged at all. My dad had crowned his dreams climbing this route as well, so that day we both felt very happy.

Who would you say has most inspired you?

Certainly Stefan Glowacz, whom I consider a sort of icon. Everything he did seemed pioneering: the way he started climbing, his long career which saw him doing everything by fair means on his expeditions – such as the one he undertook in Canada using a canoe, Kenya in 2003, Venezuela in 2007 and Baffin Island in 2008. Amid all these commitments, he also succeeded in creating the Red Chili brand. He’s a truly respectable all rounder. I admire him and would be very pleased to meet him.

In 2010 and 2011 you went to England. Tell us about these trips.

I had been asked to take part in a BMC meeting in Cornwall in 2010. That was my first encounter with British rock, which I enjoyed, but in 2011 I really discovered some jewels. This trip was, once again, dictated by a long-standing interest in mythical routes like Gaia and Master’s Edge, which I succeeded in climbing, also encouraged by the film Hard Grit, which is also famous in Italy.

I wanted to go and see if these routes lived up to their legendary status. They did - exceedingly so.

I was struck by the fact that such great lines were created with Britain’s relatively small quantities of rock. I think British climbers have been very clever in exploiting what resources they have.

I will definitely go back to the UK, perhaps spending longer periods in fewer places, concentrating on certain routes.

Do you think that learning to climb in the UK is harder than on the continent?

No, I wouldn’t say so. Wherever you go you always find very good British climbers. Despite the bad weather and the fewer crags in the UK compared to other parts of Europe, the average level of British climbers is quite high. Learning

and training are directly linked with the climbing culture and attitude rather than with the type of rock available. [Sweden, too, has a lot of good climbers in all disciplines despite limited rock and poor weather in that country]. When I was in Yosemite last October I found many excellent British climbers, and I doubt I’d be able to put together a group of strong climbers like that in Italy. I believe you can train well and thoroughly in the UK: you do find sport crags as well as an increasing number of indoor walls.

Routes on gritstone are tough and provide an excellent mental preparation; and you can acquire mountaineering skills in Scotland. The UK is a very varied training ground, and can prepare you for almost anything in climbing.

Would you say British climbers are bolder than others?

Well, that’s what some of them are known for! I certainly saw many exposed, dangerous routes in the Peak District, some of them with climbers at the bottom ready to go. What struck me is the fact that climbing in the UK is seen as an enjoyable activity as well as a high level sport. At Stanage, for instance, I saw many people climbing easy routes, and really cherishing their day out.

When you met Jerry Moffatt last year, he said he was particularly impressed by you. He had never met any Italian climber so interested in British rock, which is predominantly trad.

What attracts you to traditional climbing?

The reasons why one chooses one style over the other are not clear cut. I believe the type of the rock usually dictates whether to go for friends or bolts. There are obviously no set guidelines, but the limestone in Wenden or Rätikon, for instance, is perfect for bolted routes, while cracks are quintessentially trad terrain. Gritstone is very interesting precisely because it is not bolted: that’s where the challenge lies. It’s also where the beauty lies.

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Matteo Della Bordella is sponsored by Adidas Infinite Jest (8b max / 7b obl, 640m) on Switzerland’s Wendenstock, a route he opened in ground-up style with Fabio Palma. RICKY FELDERER THIS PAGE: Matteo della Bordella on the first ascent of

place where I refined my technique of adapting your body to the rock to obtain the best results and fully enjoy the climb. It is also excellent in view of the many cracks to be found, all close to each other. You can fully train your stamina there without running from one crack to the other!

Did your debolting of The Doors cause you some trouble?

Well, certainly not everyone was pleased with what I did. Several people were very annoyed, because they thought that what I had done was wrong, but I guess that was to be expected. This debolting caused a bit of a sensation because several articles were written and we produced a video, which was a declaration of the importance of trad style. I wanted people’s attention to be geared towards trad climbing, and that certainly helped. Of course I am not going round the world deciding what routes should be debolted and what not, nor do I consider myself the world expert on these matters: The Doors was a case in point for I felt that route could be enjoyed much more if climbed the traditional way.

‘I think the rock itself should determine the style of a climb. I hope nobody will choose to equip a crack in the future, because the natural way of climbing such a route is with nuts and cams’

Traditional climbing is not such a big thing in Italy, where it is primarily associated with easier, multi-pitch routes in an alpine environment rather than with cragging: that may be the reason why not so many Italian climbers go to the UK. And wrongly so, because it’s a unique place.

Your name is now associated with Cadarese in northern Italy. What’s so special about that place?

Well, that’s where I discovered crack climbing.

When I first went there I climbed the bolted routes with quickdraws, not posing too much attention to the fact that they could have been climbed with friends and nuts, too. Then, one day, I started doing that and the magic began. There are clearly other interesting trad place around the world, but Cadarese remains my training ground, the

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Some people would say that the first person who arrives at a crag can decide whether to equip a route or not. Others would be in favour of climbing a route in trad style if the rock allows it. Will there ever be a solution to this debate?

I don’t think it is possible to define who is right and who is wrong. As I said before, I think the rock itself should determine the style of a climb.

I hope nobody will ever choose to equip a crack in the future, because the natural way of climbing such a route is with nuts and friends. You will always be able to put protection in a crack, while bolts could alter your technique and your approach. If we talk about hard, exposed and dangerous routes such as those on gritstone, then perhaps the choice can be left to the first person who arrives at the crag. Common sense and also experience should prevail.

Some have criticised the Petzl Roc Trip because it alters the wild places it visits.

What’s your view?

Well, this issue may lead to other, more complex ones. In Yosemite, for instance, it is forbidden to

clean the routes and take out grass or anything that would make climbing difficult. Here in Italy, by contrast, you have to clean a route and leave it in a pristine condition for others, otherwise you are criticised on all fronts. There are always environmental issues linked with big enterprises such as the Roc Trip, as they may alter the environment by creating paths or routes. But most climbers love nature and enjoy the outdoors. The people behind the Roc Trip or similar projects are climbers, too. I don’t think their aim is to destroy the natural world.

As human beings, we pollute the world in many other, more catastrophic ways than making trails to new crags.

Your visit to Yosemite was very successful, where you climbed Freerider together with David Bacci. How different is Yosemite to most European climbing?

This was my first visit to Yosemite and the place certainly lives up to its fame. Climbing there is very technical, and very hard: you find cracks and friction slabs, but hardly any face climbing. It’s completely different from what we have in Italy.

The experience I gained on cracks before going there proved very useful: without it, it would have been extremely difficult to reach the top of any route. Yosemite gave me further insight into offwidth cracks, which are also very rare in Italy.

I certainly want to go back there to try harder routes.

Your other big passion is sailing. Do you still find time to do that?

No, sadly not. I haven’t been sailing for some years.

Climbing and the expeditions I undertake already take up most of my time. It’s impossible to do everything!

Who would be your dream climbing partner?

Interesting question, but I cannot really answer.

We all have people we feel more in tune with, and with whom climbing is pure delight. I enjoyed climbing with Tommy Caldwell and Nico Favresse, but these are just examples of famous names. Some climbers are better for big expeditions, such as Matteo Bernasconi, with whom I went to Patagonia twice, with others I find it easier to open routes in places like Wenden, such as Fabio Palma. Giacomo Neri, a friend I’ve known for some years, with whom I did the second ascent of Alexanna in the Marmolada last August (740m, 8a+), is also an ideal climbing partner.

What are your future projects?

I would like to go to the Trango Towers or maybe some other new areas in Pakistan in the summer.

And of course climb as much as I can elsewhere.

I have also written a climbing guidebook for Switzerland (Arrampicare in Svizzera, Versante Sud, 2012) and would like to devote some time to other similar projects. n