Excalibur | 9b+ Sport route at Drena

Italy / Trentino-South Tyrol / Autonomous Province of Trento
UKClimbing.com | 8a.nu | thecrag.com
Bolted by Morris Fontanari and Cristian Dorigatti. See also Excalibur Low Start. Grade breakdown: 8B/8B+ B 8B+/8C.

Approximately 8B/+ to a bad rest in to an 8B+/C boulder [1], 18 moves with Stefano Ghisolfi's sequence. As well as the line Stefano climbed there is also the potential for adding a hard 4 move boulder problem in to the start of the route.

Interestingly Stefano Ghisolfi spent a lot of time working the route with other climbers before making the first ascent, notably Adam Ondra, Will Bosi and Jakob Schubert.

References

[1] Will Bosi setting a replica of the upper crux https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58zB3pViWEU

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Ascents

4 successful ascent s recorded.

Climber Style Ascent Date Suggested Grade
First ascent.

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/CoRqBUssJoy/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q8bdbuulb0

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-htOMCd9K4
Second ascent. 21 sessions. Harder than Terranova, Return of the Sleepwalker and Alphane.

Exactly 2 years after Stefano Ghisolfi made the first ascent!

The first go of the day everything went perfectly, I felt like I was floating through climb and arrived at my previous high point feeling strong. Setting up for the final hard move I was really confident but disaster struck and I just missed the hold and fell of I took an hour rest, warmed up and went again. This time I arrived at the rest feeling tired battling through the upper section but on the final crux I landed perfectly into the slot. Pumped out of my mind, I almost fell jumping to the jug but just about kept it together for the top out.

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/DFsLqiGC1tc/

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2025/02/will_bosi_makes_the_second_ascent_of_excalibur_9b+-73894

[3] https://open.spotify.com/episode/1RjDH1oAZkr9epcy4LrA0l?

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZS2IWZLmqg
Third ascent. First female ascent.

With this ascent Brooke became the first woman to climb 9b+.

I hadn’t rope climbed outside since I was 13, but I was like, “I love Arco, I’ll come with you. Immediately, when I tried it, I was like, “Oh my god, like I’m obsessed with this.” It’s super hard, but I feel confident on it. I feel strong. It just felt like this perfect line. I was like, “Wait, is it possible? I’m not sure.” But I know I can progress. Part of me knew I could do it. From day one, I was like, “I’m not going to not try this climb.” So, I wouldn’t say I went into it looking for a project. [3]

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/DIMfCRcJ1zQ/

[2] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/brooke-raboutou-first-woman-climb-9b-plus-excalibur-arco.html

[3] https://www.climbing.com/culture-climbing/golden-piton-2025-brooke-raboutou/
Fourth ascent. 19 sessions. Suggested grade breakdown: 8B B 8B+.

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/DTiYPpjDDDr/

[2] https://fanatic-climbing.com/yannick-flohe-decroche-excalibur-9b-yannick-flohe-pockets-excalibur-9b/

[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/DTk-g48jJ_E/

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJKvfidkJmw

[5] Uncut https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ihdWd5EIEo