Gina and Jeffrey are regular visitors to the great rock monoliths situated erratically along the Prestone plain, at Campodolcino. It was in fact they who identified this spot where ‘bouldering’ would really take off. It’s a rather particular form of rock-climbing, a sport featuring huge boulders and stone slabs offering great climbing opportunities which began in the seventies and has since spread world-wide. It’s all about technique, plus a combination of concentration and know-how. Excellent balance is essential as the climber undertakes a series of demanding passages via a sequence of dynamic yet graceful moves, usually up to ten in total over no more than 5m.
Their story is rather special. Gina is Irish and has worked as a physiotherapist at home, in the USA, Switzerland and Italy. Her husband, from Virginia works in Chiavenna as a web designer. They landed in Chiavenna a year and a half ago. And stayed. “We were living in the USA before moving here. We wanted to come back to Europe to be closer to Gina’s family, and Italy was perfect because her parents spent around five months of the year here. Gina’s grandparents were in fact Italian.” The choice of Valchiavenna was a desire to be among the mountains. “We knew the area thanks to climbing holidays we’d spent here. It’s a wonderful spot and if you’re a climber it’s paradise.” In bouldering you follow a sequence of steps, with no rope, but with a type of mattress below to cushion any fall. “It’s a fun sport, more sociable than rock-climbing, as you’d go with a group of friends, all tackling the same difficulties, really good “craic”. You’re usually not climbing far above the ground, yet there are many difficult and technical moves. Hence it’s a great way to improve your climbing style.”
Gina talks of her first taste of climbing. “We both started rock climbing about 12 years ago, before taking up bouldering. Jeff started in a great place in N. Carolina, and for me it was almost by accident; whilst on a climbing holiday with friends in the south of France, after a few weeks the weather really turned, so we decided to head for a spot near Paris well known for bouldering. It was great fun and when we went back to Ireland we discovered lots of places to do exactly the same.”
No question that the favoured places by the fans of this discipline are those of Prestone and Cimaganda in Valle Spluga. “They’re wonderful locations. Surrounded by meadows and next to the river within a spectacular valley. The rocks provide a wealth of interesting routes and variety: easy climbing (level 4) through to the more demanding (level 8). We’re at 1000m with a really favourable outlook so that we can climb throughout the hot summer, usually with a fine, cool breeze. Climbers form a genuine community and it’s in their interest to keep the rocks clean whilst creating new routes. People come from all over, and there has to be a fine balance so as not to damage either the environment or the tranquillity here as in any mountain sport anywhere.”
We think the accompanying photos speak for themselves: of the poetry, spirit and respect for special places all tied up within a fascinating sport.
With Giacomo Gandini’s story, we are introducing a new feature to our magazine, dedicated to stories that intertwine memory, nature and tradition inspired by the Alpine territory. This first story, entitled “The ...
When it rains chestnuts! Discovering Autumn in Valchiavenna through the eyes of a Dutch biker.
Valchiavenna was the muse and inspiration of a quite extraordinary reportage, which last ...
It’s called “Spluga Climbing” and is the new indoor climbing wall constructed in the municipal gym in Campodolcino. An 18 metre vertical - one of the highest indoor - made of reinforced concrete with a coloured finish, ...
Informazioni ex art. 1, comma 125, della legge 4 agosto 2017 n. 124
Relativamente agli aiuti di Stato e aiuti de Minimis, si rimanda a quanto contenuto nel
“Registro nazionale degli aiuti di Stato” di cui all’articolo 52 L. 234/2012 (www.rna.gov.it).
