Monte Terminillo by the Canalone Centrale

Sunday 3 April 2005

What I lived through on Monte Terminillo during this outing was probably my first real mountaineering outing; although it was very easy and had few concrete risks, I believe that from this extraordinary experience I learnt in a single day what I could never have learnt in years of solo climbs.

At the beginning of 2005 I sign up for the first time with CAI Roma (Italian Alpine Club) to attend an Advanced Winter Mountaineering Course. The trial outings to assess your aptitude for mountaineering are organised and run by Luca Grazzini, a name among those who, in their own small way, have made mountain history in the Apennines.

There are a great many members, all of them extremely keen to climb the Terminillo; for me it's the first time on this mountain and my enthusiasm is sky-high. The snow conditions are excellent, crunchy just right and not too tiring to tread.

The sky is veiled in places by banks of humidity, in places it tears open onto an intense azure that fades into a deep blue.

Luca shows us how to move on ice and within a few minutes we're all on the route. We proceed slowly.

The climb goes up the central gully, with the exit variant on the right. The final stretch is perhaps the most exposed I've ever climbed. When I arrive, almost at the back of the group, on the summit everyone is looking around asking what this or that mountain is. In the distance an enormous massif … it's the Gran Sasso, I'd never seen it before. But I can't yet recognise its peaks. All I know is that a world is opening up in front of me, a world of discoveries.

For the descent Luca Grazzini takes us onto the saddle that leads to the Sassetelli ridge. At the lowest point of the saddle, looking north at the valley that slopes down below the Scangive.

The most direct way to tackle the descent is facing out, Luca explains, bending your legs slightly to shift your centre of gravity a little backwards, so that if you lose your balance you don't pitch forwards. Ice axe in hand, we go one after the other along the partly icy ridge.

The loop includes a return passing below the start of the Chiaretti-Pietrostefani.

At the start of the Chiaretti-Pietrostefani we stop, and here Luca makes a shock proposal: climb this route and come back down on the south-east side.

I'm physically shattered and decide, with two other lads, to head back to the cars. I already feel extremely satisfied with a climb that was new to me... we leave the group and go back to the car.

A fantastic day, of which I still keep wonderful photos and intense memories...