Claudia Ghisolfi climbs her first 9a route in Gravere with TCT. After Laura Rogora, she is only the second Italian to conquer this level of difficulty. And she and her brother Stefano become one of those rare pairs of siblings where both can climb 9a.
Claudia Ghisolfi succeeds in Italian Susa Valley after a fifteen-minute struggle, the sport climbing route TCT (9a). For the Italian, who injured her shoulder at the World Cup in Villars a year ago, it is the first route of this grade. Only an Italian climber has done this before her: Laura Rogora.
Claudia Ghisolfi following in her brother's footsteps
TCT (9a) in Gravesend was born in 2014 by Claudia's brother Stefano Ghisolfi first ascent and a little later by Adam Ondra repeated. Stefano had the line in honor of the young and extremely talented climber Tito Claudio Traverso, who died in a tragic climbing accident in 2013, christened TCT. The route connects the most difficult sections of L'extrema cura (8c) and Base Jump (8b +).
Since Claudia Ghisolfi was already able to climb L'extrema cura (8c) in 2018 and also scored Base Jump (8b+) this summer, she was already well acquainted with the moves of her first 9a line. On September 21, she entered TCT and after 15 minutes of climbing, reached the anchor. Claudia Ghisolfi is only the second Italian to break the level of difficulty 9a.
First 9a siblings? nope
Shortly after their ascent, the question arose on social media as to whether Claudia and Stefano Ghisolfi were the first siblings to be able to climb 9a. This is not the case, as the following non-exhaustive list shows. What is certain is that the group of siblings who climb at such a high level is small, very small.
These siblings both climb 9a
- Stefano Ghisolfi and Claudia Ghisolfi
- Luke Dawson and Pete Dawson
- Ruben Firnenburg and David Firnenburg
- Marco Zanone and Andre Zanone
That might interest you
- Laura Rogora unstoppable: 8b + onsight, 9a red point and more
- Isn't Julia Chanourdie the third woman to conquer grade 9b?
- Record: Angela Eiter climbs as the first woman 9b
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Credits: Cover picture Diego Borello