Interview with Stefano Ghisolfi, talking about Olympics and more

First of all we wanted to know how you are and how Sara Grippo, your girlfriend, is doing. We know that your Sara has decided since before the decree to stay at home mainly because of her health condition.
We decided to stay at home since the beginning of March and we decided it because of Sara’s immunity condition which is compromised because of the medicines she is taking after a kidney transplant she had a few years ago. That’s why we isolated ourselves earlier. From this point of view we have to be very careful, at first I went shopping a few times, then we decided to make it home so that we had as little contact as possible. From the point of view of climbing instead we spend a lot of time in our garage because we have a wall equipped for climbing and for that we are very lucky and we can continue climbing and training, even if it is not like rock.

How is this Ghisolfi indoor? What do you do? Like cooking or?
I’m not good at cooking, Sara who’s the cook, I’d just make a mess. She’s really good, it’s not worth trying. I really like taking pictures and videos and these days we’re experimenting with new things, since we can’t go outside. We’re trying to do something fun like climbing in the kitchen, also to cheer up those who follow us. I’ve also tried to post on my socials some workouts with objects less specific than a beam, for example making targeted movements with the kitchen table.

Your focus is on indoor competitions, because you’re preparing for the Olympics, but you’re also very strong outdoors, what are the differences and what is the closest dimension to you?
They are very different and let’s say separate, in fact not all climbers who do competitions climb on rock and vice versa, I like to do both because they have very different physical and mental aspects. In competitions you are against each other and there are opponents who are also friends, but the focus remains on performance and victory. While on the rock, performance is a challenge against yourself, something much more intimate, an overcoming of your own limits. There’s you and the rock, I find it really attractive. You choose where to go when and undoubtedly this is easier, because for competitions you have to prepare in a specific way, in that specific period in which there are. While on the rock you also choose according to your shape and you have to look for motivation with yourself.

Exactly the most peculiar aspect of climbing is that there are so many forms, I was interested to see if you are going to explore other forms of climbing, such as high altitude or long routes, do you see yourself as an alpinist?
I’ve been asked a lot of times and until now I’ve concentrated a lot on sport climbing, in the future I don’t know and I’ve never really thought about it, I see myself like that for now.

And the free solo? Would that interest you?
It’s a very difficult subject to deal with because we’re talking about the most dangerous form of climbing that exists. It’s not for me, I’ve never even imagined climbing without a rope and risking my life. But I really respect those who do it because of their ability to control their minds, which is crazy. I don’t think it should be imitated, it’s really dangerous. It’s incredible, but it’s mind control that’s a different talent than the ability to climb in itself. I certainly respect them for the control they have of themselves, they are willing to put their lives on the line to achieve a goal, but I will never do it.

We know the Tokyo Olympics have been postponed. You were very well trained for this goal, we wanted to know what you thought about the debut of sport climbing in 2021?
The controversy that arose was about the fact that the Ceo only awarded one climbing medal. Basically a combination format was created between lead, boulder and speed, instead of bringing the individual disciplines, it was obviously a compromise that was accepted. In my opinion it works, because to bring only one of the three, leaving the other two at home would have been a shame from the point of view of possibilities, because the idea is for the next Olympics to bring the three separate disciplines. Although it seems that in 2024 perhaps they will only keep the speed separate, because two medals have been awarded. Beyond the format is a unique opportunity for climbing as a sport both from the point of view of visibility and for athletes who have an objective to follow that is different from the usual. Now in these days there was supposed to be the last race for qualifying, but unfortunately it’s postponed so we’ll see it all again next year.

You will be 28 in 2021, do you think you are still competitive for the Olympics?
I hope so, I was this year so I hope that one more year won’t change the games. There are a lot of young people who are very strong in the combined. I feel good in my discipline which is the lead and a little less good in the other two. The opponents are very strong so it won’t be easy to qualify.

We know that in indoor and single pitching women are almost equal to men, while in outdoor and multi-pitching we see that women are actually much less. Do you think these differences are due to differences in physical or cultural strength?
Then as far as climbing is concerned I read articles that said that the difference between men and women is less. I remember a World Cup competition in Belgium where the women’s final was traced too easy and two women managed to make it to the top, so they made them play the super final on the men’s route and one of them would come second among the men. The difference is really small.

Can you tell us more about Lapsus? That it was the first 9b made in Italy, through a concatenation of three very hard routes in parallel.
Almost 5 years have passed since lapsus and I remember that I had this project to chain three routes, including boredom which is the first Italian 8c+, which was freed by Scassa in 1993, which is the year I was born, so it had an important historical value for me. I decided to put myself on this project also because it was close to home. I started studying it at the beginning of 2015 and I tried it for more than a year, initially climbing individually all the routes of which it was composed so Noia, Anaconda and Cobra and then trying to chain them. I remember that I always fell at the top in a very hard pass, which is the same point where Adam Ondra also fell a few times before being able to repeat it in 2017. So far his was the only repeat. About a month ago there was a very strong American, Johnathan Siegrist, who came just to try to repeat it, but unfortunately he came at the wrong time because of this Covid-19.

Many people ask: at this time of lock-down many of us climbers are training at home, so we will come out of this period much stronger, but when we come back on the rock will we actually be strong or would it have been essential to improve the practice on the rock?
In my opinion, many climbers will be strong on certain aspects such as strength on the fingers and on the lock-down, because these are the easiest aspects to train. For those who have a wall like mine you can train everything completely. For those who unfortunately only have the beam you can train some aspects well, but you have to train other parts such as technique or climbing itself. At first it will seem strange to climb again, but after a couple of attempts you get used to it again quickly.

What’s cooking? What’s next?
It will be difficult that there will be competitions soon, so next project probably on rock. It will also be difficult to go abroad so definitely something here in Arco or Trentino that is the most comfortable and safe thing when you can go out. I don’t have something specific in mind yet. I have in mind a project called KingLine which is near here, but unfortunately it’s on private property and we were talking to the owner about climbing again. This could be a project, as it is harder than a 9b. If you couldn’t try this project I’d certainly want to find another one in a nearby crag.

There are a lot of questions about your diet, we wanted to know what your diet is, if it has changed in this moment of lock-down, if you are a vegetarian and if you indulge in some gluttony.

I don’t really have such a restrictive diet, I don’t follow any in particular, I try to do something complete and balance carbohydrates, proteins and fats well. I’m not a vegetarian, but Sara is, so I don’t eat a lot of meat either, just once a week of chicken and then I try to vary it as much as possible. When I feel like a treat I take it, maybe when we get off the cliff we go for an ice cream.

Do you have a plan B for when you retire?

There are a thousand things I’ve thought about and I still don’t know which way I’ll go, clearly I’d like to stay in the world of climbing because it’s my passion. I could be the coach that seems to me the most logical way, putting my experience at the service of someone else. Maybe a trainer. In any case there are various routes that I could do, but for now I hope to be an athlete as long as possible so that I can postpone this choice.

Among the various experiences you were telling us which one you liked the most?

I’d say the tracer, creating routes with holds and seeing people climbing them gave me satisfaction. I did the course of tracers of the Italian federation and I traced at some races. It’s nice to see people having fun on the different problems that I tracked myself.

It takes a lot of imagination to climb and imagine a route. Would you have ever imagined this condition we are living in, talking about the lock-down?

No one would have expected it, we were very careful to build the climbing mute and I actually used it before. This was the greatest luck we had to overcome this moment.

What do you miss most about the outside world? The first thing you’ll do when you finish the lock-down?

I miss climbing at the crag, in the open air and for sure it will be the first thing I will do, also because it will probably be one of the safest things to do in terms of contagion. Maybe if you look for a cliff that’s not very popular you’ll be able to climb safely.