Alex Ventajas climbs Mascella Serrata (9a)

Alex Ventajas, with 20 routes 9a and beyond under his belt, has done the first repeat of Gabri Moroni’s Mascella Serrata (9a) in Arco. ”Perfect line, all natural, really a must of Arco. 4 days, my style completely.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent and possibly share a picture?
This route caught my eye the first time I saw it, just after it had been bolted by Gabriele Moroni, and I couldn’t wait to try it.

When I first tried it a couple of weeks ago, I had good feelings on most of the sections, but I couldn’t completely figure out the first crux. In fact, even though the whole route is quite complex, alternating bouldery sections and rests, the hardest part comes right at the start.

On the second day, the first boulder was unfortunately wet. I was worried that some damp holds might break, so I focused on the rest of the route, managing to climb it in one go.

In the mean time I was working a lot as a route-setter, so it was a bit difficult to understand the ups and downs of my body shape. On the third day I felt like I just didn’t have enough power to unlock the opening boulder, but at the same time I had the feeling I was missing something.

Finally, on the fourth day I tried to approach the crux differently: thinking about the sequence, I realized that while clipping I was positioning my body in a way that made the next move much harder. I tried to delay the clip and the feeling on those moves completely changed!

On the next go, with that simple adjustment, I managed to get through the first crux for the first time and then just kept climbing! It was a tough fight and I think the key to reach the chain was having fully internalized the moves, which allowed me to stay focus and push through all the way to the top. I’m really happy to add this line to my thick list! A real five-star route that combines technique and power.

Since I don’t have any good pic on the route I share an unposted one from summer holidays by @crimp.films.