Ale Zeni makes only the 3rd ascent of Malvazija (8c+) in 36 years

Ale Zeni has made the third ascent of the Croatian testpiece, Malvazija. This short and powerful gently overhanging section of compact limestone was put up by Maurizio "Manolo" Zanolla in 1988. In 2010, Cody Roth made the first repeat and suggested an upgrade from 8b+ to 8c+. He said at the time that some holds had broke while working the route. Slovenian climbers, who had worked on Malvazija prior to Roth's ascent, such as Uroš Perko, felt like there was also at least one hold missing in the crux, due to the complexity, and also compared to photos they had seen of Manolo on the route at the time of his ascent. The crux sequence of Malvazija is heavily chipped which is not uncommon for sport routes of that era.

Can you fill us in on your ascent?
I tried the route for the first time last year in April but just for two days. The temperature during those days were too high to try this technical, bouldery and short route, so after three tries I decided to change the crag. This year I came back at the end of January for two days and I tried again and on my second day I was pretty close to do the free ascent.

At the end of February I had two more days to try the route. The weather wasn’t so good and I had just one attempt before the rock got wet, fortunately I felt really confident on all the moves and I did the free ascent of the route.

The history of the route is pretty mysterious, I know that before me just Cody Roth had done the free ascent and he told that some holds broke (on him and perhaps prior to him) so the route was harder compared to the original version. Some holds, for sure, are chipped (and scarred) so it is difficult to know the real history of the route. I did it in the same way as Cody. I saw a video of Cody and I used the same method.

What's coming up next for you?
My next plan is to try to do the first free ascent of a multi-pitch called “Wu wei” bolted from the ground with my friend Riccardo Scarian. This multi-pitch had required something like 5 years to complete (for free climbing attempts) and will be my main project of this year. The hardest pitch could be 9a, really really technical on a friction slab wall. The obligatory level needed is probably 8a (to make links to points of protection). For sure, it will be a great fight.