Climbs

Bolted in 2006 by Ally Smith and Freddy Mead they then tried the route in 2007 before abandoning it. Freddy then came back 16 years later and finished off the line!

Approximately an 8A boulder in to a 7c/7c+/8a route (depending on who you ask).

A contender for the first 8C+.

Gioia has a slightly complicated history due to the fragile nature of the rock and the required reinforcements.

After a couple of repeats from Adam Ondra and Nalle Hukkataival, Daniel Woods and Dave Graham came to try the problem and discovered some new beta using a foothold that appeared after some rock broke. Christian then filled the new hold in to bring the problem back to it's original state. Speaking on facebook, Christian said:

After Daniel Woods and Dave Graham's attempts at sending Gioia, today I fixed the new foothold which resulted from the accidental breaking off of a piece of rock in a section of the boulder that had never been used before - section 2 of Gioia.

Now the line is back to its original state, exactly as it was when I first climbed it and when Adam Ondra and Nalle Hukkataival did their repetitions.

The original footholds are always the same; the new one was frail and would have easily broken again. I never use purpose made glue to fix these kind of issues, it's not a practice I like.

However, due to its acknowledged importance, Gioia deserved to be restored to its original line so that it could be again equal to every climber who has tried it in the past and will try it in the future. [1]

After this Woods and Graham lost interest in trying the problem.

References

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/2yu9kn/after_a_foot_hold_on_gioia_broke_during_attempts/

[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20160930201429/https://theburrowfiles.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/varazze-journals-part-1/

[3] https://www.8a.nu/news/gioia-controversy-based-on-a-misunderstanding

Harder Faster is the harder, scarier direct finish to Gaia.

Seb Grieve:

Very wild climbing. After the 'easy' Gaia start, paste right foot high and layback. Repeat twice and arrive at ledge. Graunchy mantle that could easily go wrong. Top roped clean several times but could not bring myself to lead.

References

[1] https://touchstoneclimbing.com/hasta-la-vista-with-ethan-pringle/

Originally a project of Dave Graham's from 2004. Dave gave up on the project before Giuliano Cameroni established first the stand and then the sit. Dave then returned to climb both the stand and the sit.

Stand start 8A+